


Happy Family Extras

by Sunfreckle



Series: Undertale's Happy Family [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Betaed, Bonus Content, Fluff, Gen, Headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-08-15 23:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8078287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunfreckle/pseuds/Sunfreckle
Summary: Alternate chapters, deleted scenes and other bonus content for my completed Undertale fic "Happy Family", in which the entire main cast get's to enjoy a happy life on the surface.Extra content includes:- Some Bratty x Burgerpants fluff.- Grillby helping Muffet to start her bakery.- Sans and Toriel getting engaged.- Frisk and Monster Kid getting together as teenagers.Graciously betaed by BookishAngel.





	1. The Epilogue Unreloaded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** This is what the epilogue “Happy Family” would have been like if the story had never been reloaded after CONTINUE. I know reloading the chapter was a bold choice and although I adore my original epilogue, perhaps some people would prefer this version.

“I think it needs to be just a little bit higher,” Toriel instructed from her viewpoint in the garden.

“Like this?” Sans asked. He was levitating a string of outdoor lights, trying to hang them for decoration.

“Yes, that’s perfect!” Toriel approved and Sans gave a wave of his hand so the electrical cord draped itself across the area between one of the trees and the edge of the roof.

“That is going to be so pretty when it’s dark,” Toriel smiled. She had just finished setting up two big tables in the backyard. “There,” she said, looking round. “That should seat thirteen with ease.”

Sans grinned at her; he could tell how much she was looking forward to this dinner party.

“It has been so long since we were all together!” Toriel sighed, smiling back at him.

Sans nodded. They had all been busy lately. It wasn’t that they didn’t see their friends and family anymore; far from it, they saw them all the time. But getting _everyone_ together was becoming more and more of a challenge.

Gaster had moved to a big city four years ago. The energy company had wanted him near their main research lab and since Gaster really enjoyed working for them, he had agreed to go. He still came by every week though, sometimes even staying the weekend. Gaster always tried especially hard to clear his schedule in the weekends that Papyrus stayed the night as well. Papyrus and Mettaton had been living together for a while now, but he still had his room here as well. But he really didn’t enjoy being on his own, so when Mettaton was busy filming, he spent more time with the family than at their shared apartment. If he _hadn’t_ done this, Sans and the kids would have felt very neglected indeed, but as it was, it was a very good arrangement.

“Is that everything?” Toriel asked. “Once it’s time to start cooking, I won’t have the time anymore to fix anything out here.”

“Seems fine to me,” Sans said. “Besides, Mettaton can help me out here while you and Pap cook, if something else needs to be done.”

A familiar whirring sound reached their ears, making Sans look up.

“Is that the kids?” Toriel asked, turning around.

“Sounds like it,” Sans nodded and he walked past the house to the front yard. Toriel followed him.

Two mopeds came zooming up to the house and onto the driveway.

“Are they here yet?” Asriel called out, jumping off his moped while it was still moving.

“Not yet,” Toriel said, trying not to scold. She still didn’t really approve of the mopeds. By now she had mostly resigned herself to her kids having them, but they knew that if they _ever_ drove without a helmet, she would take them away in a heartbeat.

Frisk was right behind Asriel. Manny sat on the back of their moped though, so Frisk had to come to a standstill more slowly.

“Pap and Mettaton are on their way,” Sans told them. “How was school?”

“Pretty good,” Frisk said. “We have a career fair tomorrow.”

“Oh good,” Toriel said cheerfully, while they took off their helmets.

“Try not to hog the journalism booth then, will ya?” Sans joked and Frisk grinned.

“We had to write down at least three interests,” they said. “I wrote down journalism, photography, and politics.”

“And I put down art school, law enforcement, and physical education,” Manny said. “But we can visit all the booths. They just wanted us to think about it.”

Asriel felt the involuntary curious glances in his direction and said with a shrug “I wrote down agriculture, medicine, and child care.”

“That should cover about everything,” Sans chuckled.

“There is no need to have your minds all made up yet,” Toriel said warmly. “You all have more than enough time to figure it out.”

There was a loud engine noise at the beginning of the street and Manny tilted his head.

“Papyrus or Undyne?” he prompted the others to guess.

“Has to be Pap,” Asriel said.

“Undyne and Alphys only ever come by bike since they took up cycling,” Frisk reminded Manny.

Sure enough, a moment later Papyrus and Mettaton pulled up in Papyrus’ car. Mettaton had changed cars numerous times, but Papyrus still had his beloved Fiat Spider and, because he took very good care of it, it was still in pristine condition.

“Hello!” Mettaton sang and Papyrus held up a grocery bag and announced:

“I’ve got the extra ingredients, Toriel!”

“Wonderful,” Toriel said. “I say we start right away!”

“To the kitchen!” Papyrus cried and he hurried into the house with Toriel, giving Frisk, Asriel, and Manny all a pat on the head in passing.

“Come on, Manny, Az,” Frisk said, wrapping an arm around Manny. “I wanna look up that video Rory mentioned.”

Mettaton walked up to Sans and watched the kids go inside, Manny nuzzling Frisk’s neck as they drew their arm closer around his waist.

“ _Look_ at them,” Mettaton gushed. “They’re so adorable it hurts.”

“They’ve been together for almost a year, man,” Sans snorted.

“Well, I _still_ haven’t gotten over how adorable they are,” Mettaton replied.

They went inside in time to hear the door of Frisk’s room slam. Loud music turned on almost instantly. Equally loud cooking noises were coming from the kitchen. Papyrus’ cooking had improved vastly  over the years, but his exuberance hadn’t diminished one bit.

“Wanna watch some TV until our better halves need us again?” Sans suggested.

Mettaton nodded happily. He and Sans had, after many trials, settled on an activity they could do together and enjoy equally: watching reality television together. Or, more accurately, Mettaton watched reality TV and Sans watched Mettaton get worked up over reality TV. Sans got a laugh out of it and Mettaton had someone to watch his awful shows with other than Papyrus, who always became upset when seeing Mettaton get outrageously angry at what was happening on screen. Since Sans always just laughed instead of trying to comfort him, Mettaton could be as dramatic as he wanted and he let Sans make all the bad puns he could think of as long as they were at the expense of the characters he couldn’t stand. It was a pretty perfect arrangement.

While they were watching, Sans’ phone buzzed. He looked at it. It was a text from Gaster simply saying: “?”

Sans texted back a thumbs up and announced: “Gaster’s coming.”

“Shush!” Mettaton scolded, eyes glued to the screen. “They’re about to reveal the traitor.”

So Sans shut up and watched Mettaton howl with indignation while he waited for Gaster to arrive. The door to the basement stairs opened and Gaster appeared, carrying a basket.

“Hello,” he said cheerfully.

Ever since he had moved to the city, he would check with Sans as to whether everything was all clear and then shadow to the basement. It was usually the darkest there, so it was the easiest place for him to manifest.

“Hey,” Sans grinned and Mettaton interrupted his tantrum mid-scream to cheerfully say:

“Hello, Gaster! Papy is in the kitchen with Toriel.”

“So I hear,” Gaster smiled and he walked to the kitchen to give Papyrus a hug and to give the basket, which contained several bottles of good wine, to Toriel.

“I don’t see why alcohol is deemed such an appropriate gift for employees and business relations,” he said. “They cannot possibly think the drinking of it will improve one’s work.”

“Because they want to justify their endless _wine_ -ing at you!” Sans couldn’t resist calling from the living room.

“Well, whatever the reason,” Toriel giggled. “It will certainly improve our dinner party!”

When Gaster came back into the living room, Frisk had just opened the door to their room and stuck out their head to call down:

“Was that Papyrus’ welcome home cry?”

“Yes it was,” Sans called back with a chuckle. “Gaster’s here.”

“Grand-Dadster!” Frisk cheered and they came galloping down the stairs, followed first by Asriel and then Manny.

“Hello, Frisk,” Gaster laughed and he hugged them. Frisk was a lot taller than Sans now, but Gaster still towered over them.

Frisk let go and Gaster hugged Asriel and greeted Manny with almost equal affection. Manny had become almost a third child long before he and Frisk started dating, as they had all known him so long.

“How are you?” Gaster asked. “Any news since last week?” But before any of the kids could answer, Mettaton said reproachfully:

“I can’t hear my own drama, darlings, please, my show is almost finished.”

Asriel rolled his eyes and Frisk snorted and pointed towards the kitchen. They all squeezed into the kitchen, where Toriel and Papyrus were putting the last finishing touches on the dinner.

“Goodness,” Toriel said. “What a crowd all of the sudden.”

“I am sure they are just here to see two master chefs at work,” Papyrus grinned.

“Certainly is a bonus,” Manny remarked.

“So,” Gaster repeated. “Any news?”

“Well,” Frisk said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Our English teacher read the last column I wrote for the school paper and she convinced me to send it to some magazine that does a promo section for young writers.”

“We’ve been telling them to enter into writing contests for ages,” Asriel reminded everyone and Manny nodded. “They never want to.”

“This wasn’t a contest!” Frisk protested. “I don’t have to _win_ things.”

“We just want everyone to know how good you are,” Manny said, nudging Frisk with his nose.

“So you sent it in,” Gaster prompted. “And?”

“And they posted it!” Frisk said happily. “And they sent back that they thought my social commentary was extraordinary!”

“Congratulations,” Gaster said warmly.

“Yeah, that was a pretty fun night,” Sans chuckled. “I don’t think you stopped jumping around for a half hour straight.”

“Neither did Papyrus,” Frisk retorted.

“Well,” Papyrus said, putting a lid on one of the pots. “What kind of brunkle would I be if I had let you run around alone?”

“We are all very proud,” Toriel smiled. “Though not in the least surprised of course.”

“This looks cosy,” Mettaton said, appearing in the kitchen doorway.

“Is your show over?” Manny asked. “Who won?”

“It’s reality TV, darling, nobody wins,” Mettaton replied and he went to wrap his arms around Papyrus, severely restricting his movement and, by extension, his cooking.

“Really,” Toriel said, as she bumped into Asriel as she turned around to chop some vegetables for the salad. “This is impossible.” She stood still for a moment and said: “This kitchen is officially too full.”

“We’ll go wait in the living room,” Asriel chuckled, hugging his mother from behind. He was almost as tall as she was now. Soon he would probably be taller. “Come on, Frisk. And I’ll fix that button for you, Manny.”

“Cool,” Manny grinned and he and Frisk followed Asriel out of the kitchen.

Between Papyrus’ knitting and Toriel’s sewing, Asriel had taken up the habit of altering and improving pieces of clothing. He had gotten pretty good at it and some of his latest creations had been for Manny. Asriel had come up with some really creative ways to turn not having arms into an advantage.

All three of them sat down on the couch and Asriel took a needle and thread out of Toriel’s sewing box to fasten a nearly torn off button on Manny’s shirt.

“You know…” Frisk noted, watching their brother work. “You could totally go do that after school. Be a fashion designer, I mean.”

“Yeah, man,” Manny grinned. “I’d buy all your stuff for a start.”

“I dunno,” Asriel said doubtfully. “It’s my hobby. What if I go do it for real and it becomes just another job?”

“Yeah,” Manny nodded. “I get that.” That was why he wasn’t quite sure about going to art school.

“Well, as long as you keep doing it,” Frisk said. “You can always be a fashion designer-doctor if you want to.”

Asriel chuckled and cut the thread. “There,” he said. “All fixed.”

“Thanks, Az,” Manny said happily. He loved this shirt.

“Ring! Ring!” an impressively loud, but very young voice suddenly called from outside, followed by an spirited chorus of bicycle bells being rung.

“Out of the way!” Frisk and Asriel cried in unison, pretending to dive for cover with their arms over their head as Papyrus and Mettaton both burst from the kitchen to open the front door.

“There they are!” Alphys’ voice came from the front garden when they opened the door, immediately interrupted by Undyne crying: “Get ‘em!”

Papyrus and Mettaton both nearly fell over as two small monster children charged into the hallway and jumped at them in a noisy blur of greenish scales and eager little claws.

“Who are these _beautiful_ children?” Mettaton gasped, hugging his small attacker. “Can they really be our nephews?”

“They must be!” Papyrus cried, hugging an identical little boy. “Surely there can’t be _four_ such amazing children!”

“It is us! It is us!” Kaoru and Hikaru chanted, hugging their favourite uncles tighter.

“That’s right,” Undyne grinned, coming in with Alphys. “Get your strangling urges out on people who don’t have to breathe in the first place!”

“Hey, guys!” Frisk grinned widely and Kaoru and Hikaru let go of Papyrus and Mettaton to greet the rest of the household.

Mettaton and Papyrus might claim first place, but _everyone_ adored the twins. It had been quite a shock to Alphys and Undyne when it had turned out there were _two_ kids in the egg they were trying to hatch instead of one. Alphys had been equal parts overjoyed and alarmed, but Undyne had been downright triumphant about it from the moment they found out. Getting two babies when you were only trying for one seemed like the ultimate parenting win to her.

“How lovely of you to come so early!” Toriel said while Frisk and Asriel hugged what for the sake of convenience they called their little cousins. Manny got a hug as well, because as far as the twins were concerned he was a cousin too.

“Yeah,” Sans said, winking at Kaoru and Hikaru as they ran from one set of arms to another. “Having you guys around always makes everything more _twin_ teresting.”

The boys laughed and Undyne rolled her eye at a grinning Alphys. Their kids were almost four years old now and Sans still hadn’t run out of twin based puns.

“Come along, Papyrus,” Toriel said, after she had given the twins their fair share of kisses. “We need to finish dinner!”

“Why don’t we go see what Aunt Toriel and Uncle Sans have set up in the backyard?” Alphys suggested. “Before Hikaru starts climbing the bookcase again,” she whispered at Undyne.

Their boys were both energetic, enthusiastic children, but Hikaru was quite obviously the loudest and most destructive. When something was being torn down, it was usually Hikaru doing the tearing while Kaoru stood to the side, giggling and egging his brother on.

“Yeah, come on, guys,” Manny said. “I’ll race you!”

Whooping and hollering, he ran outside with the twins, followed by Alphys and Undyne and a still gushing Mettaton.

“Dad, have you seen my camera?” Frisk asked, turning to Sans. They really wanted a couple of good pictures to remember tonight by. “I thought I left it on the living room table, but Mom moved it.”

“Haven’t a clue, kiddo,” Sans said. “Ask your mom.” Neither Sans nor Frisk was exactly sure when they had switched from ‘dunkle’ for ‘dad’, they just had.

“Mom?” Frisk began to call out, but Asriel already tapped them on their shoulder and handed them camera.

It was a good one, with a proper lens. A present for Frisk’s seventeenth birthday.

“Here you go,” he said. He smirked. “How many times do I have to find this thing lying around before I get to keep it?”

“Get your own!” Frisk balked, snatching it from him. They lifted it to their face and took a picture of Asriel pulling a face. “Thanks, Az,” they grinned.

Frisk and Asriel ran outside to take pictures and Sans and Gaster stayed behind in the living room to catch up on the other’s projects.

“Have they given you the ok to start building yet?” Sans asked.

“Not yet,” Gaster grimaced. “There still seems to be some opposition and they have ordered even more radiation tests.”

Sans chuckled and shook his skull.

“I have tried to explain that my panel receptors _absorb_ the magical background radiation and are certainly not capable of creating it, but some people do not seem to want to listen.”

“They do love their tests,” Sans shrugged. “I guess they’ll find out eventually and then you can start producing magical electricity on full scale.”

Gaster nodded happily. From the moment the energy company had given him the opportunity to from his own research team, he had gathered a talented group of monsters and humans to work on new ways of generating energy. They had compared monster and human methods and had attempted to combine them in different ways. Their eventual success came in the form of solar panels adapted to absorb the ever present ‘background magic’ instead of absorbing sunlight. Their small scale projects had all worked wonderfully and Gaster believed that, if executed properly on a large scale, magical electricity could be sustainably powering entire cities. It would be a triumph for science and, perhaps more importantly, it would be the first big collaborative invention between humans and monsters. There had been other small successes in several fields of study, but this would be something that would made the world take notice.

“My students ask about it almost every day, you know,” Sans  grinned. “They want to see the project succeed so badly you wouldn’t believe.”

“So they _are_ your students now?” Gaster laughed softly.

“Eh,” Sans shrugged. “Kinda hard to keep denying it if they keep calling me professor.”

After a lot of coaxing, the university had at length succeeded into getting Sans to accept a more official position at the university. Technically, he was now an associate professor and, although Sans frustrated and baffled colleagues and students alike, the university had finally found people he could work with: the PhD students in experimental physics. They were stubborn, motivated, often quite brilliant, and so used to having no box to think in or outside of that Sans’ theories didn’t distress them half as much as they did other people. There were five of them now, all working on closely related projects and all determined to integrate monster science into the current human model. Sans liked them. They were bright kids and they all had a sense of humour. You kind of had to have one when the generally accepted answer to most questions in your field of study was: “Heck if I know.”

“We are done!” Toriel said happily, emerging from the kitchen. “Papyrus is tidying the kitchen a little and after that all we have to do is keep an eye on the timer and turn the oven off in time.”

“Well, it certainly smells wonderful,” Gaster complimented.

“Our feast is prepared,” Papyrus said triumphantly, taking off his apron and washing up gloves as he came out of the kitchen. “What next?”

“Why don’t we go sit outside and have a drink while we wait for Asgore and Katla to arrive?” Toriel suggested. “It sounds like outside is the place to be.”

“Sure does,” Sans chuckled. There certainly was a lot of happy noise coming from the backyard.

They went outside and joined Mettaton and Alphys, who were sitting down and chatting while Undyne and the kids did all sort of acrobatics on the grass for Frisk to take pictures of. At the moment Frisk was dutifully documenting the epic battle that was taking place between the twins and Manny and Undyne. It was a pity photos didn’t include sound effects, because they were all putting on quite a show.

Asriel came up to Toriel as she sat down and said “Katla just texted me. She and Dad will be here soon. The meeting at child services ran long.”

“Oh good, but do tell them not to hurry,” Toriel said cheerfully. “There really is no need.”

“Will do,” Asriel nodded and he took out his phone as he walked back to where Frisk was laughingly taking pictures of Manny. He had tripped while being chased by the twins and no matter how big and strong he had gotten, he still managed to do a face plant every now and again.

Asriel sat down and texted Katla to say what Toriel had said and to ask how the meeting had gone.

Katla and Asgore had never seemed in a hurry to move in together, but after Gaster had left it hadn’t taken them long to make the leap. Asriel got along with Katla so well by that time that he hadn’t minded at all. On the contrary, he had been really glad to have her around more. When they had lived together for a year, Asgore and Katla had sat Asriel down and asked him how he would like it if they became a foster family. Asriel had thought it was an awesome idea and, after looking in to the different options, Asgore and Katla had registered themselves as an emergency support family. Whenever there was a child that needed a temporary place to stay immediately without delay, for whatever reason, they would take in that child in until they could go back home or to a permanent foster home. Of course there were some difficulties at first, but everything went so well with the first few children that soon there were no more scruples from child services. Asgore and Katla were steady and kind and Asriel became an instant older brother to every nervous child that walked through the door. His phone was full of names of kids that he called his brothers and sisters. The entire nature of their stay in their family was temporary, but that didn’t stop Asriel, Asgore, and Katla from giving every child they fostered the comforting feeling that they would _always_ be welcome there.

“We won! We won!” Kaoru and Hikaru danced around Undyne, chanting triumphantly as she pretended to lie defeated in the grass. Undyne closed her eye dramatically and said:

“You won! You’ve slain me. I’m dead.”

“No!” Hikaru cried, pushing laughingly at his mother, and Kaoru immediately ran to fetch Alphys.

“Mama,” he whispered loudly. “You have to come kiss Mom better again.”

“I don’t know,” Alphys smiled. “My seat is p-pretty comfortable.”

“Come on, Mama!” Kaoru insisted, pulling at her claw.

“Alright, alright,” Alphys laughed and she trotted over to her wife, being pulled along by Kaoru.

“Woe is me,” Undyne said, eye still closed. “I was slain by my own children. I shall never rise again.”

“But Mama can kiss you better, Mom,” Hikaru insisted. “She always does.”

“I don’t think so,” Undyne said seriously. “I’m really pretty dead this time.”

“Hm, I think you’re only _mostly_ dead,” Alphys joked and she quoted: “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive…” She planted a big kiss on Undyne’s lips and Undyne made a show of sitting upright with a gasp as soon as she pulled away.

“It’s a miracle!” she cried and she grabbed her wife and sons and squeezed them together into a big hug.

“Gotcha!” Frisk cried, taking a picture at exactly the right moment.

“Very useful,” Toriel remarked laughingly to Gaster. “Having your own personal family photographer.” Her scrapbooks had gotten exponentially better since Frisk had taken up photography.

Eventually Kaoru got tired and came to sit on Papyrus’ lap and after a while even Hikaru wanted to sit down. By the time Asgore and Katla arrived, everyone was already gathered around the table and Frisk and Asriel were passing around plates and cutlery.

“Hello everyone!” Asgore said cheerfully.

“Hello,” Katla smiled. “What a lovely setup!”

“Right on time,” Toriel said, glancing at her watch. “Shall we start dinner immediately?”

“Yes please,” Asgore said, hugging Asriel with one arm and Frisk with his other. “I’m starving.”

“Nothing to work up your appetite like paperwork and talks with government officials,” Katla joked.

“In that case, you will be glad to hear we have prepared a veritable feast!” Papyrus said and he followed Toriel to the kitchen, calling on the kids to lend a hand.

Within minutes, the two tables were absolutely laden with food and it all smelled delicious. Frisk watched how Undyne and Gaster filled everyone’s glasses from their respective ends of the table. Idly they stretched out a hand towards the bouquet of wildflowers that stood in a mason jar in the middle of the table. Some of the flowers were a little squashed and wilted from being transported. Frisk flexed their fingers and a red glow spread across the flowers which immediately started to look better. As their colour became more and more vibrant, it became doubtful if they actually looked like they had looked before, but they certainly looked more like how wildflowers _ought_ to look.

“Frisk…” Toriel said in a warning tone of voice and Frisk quickly retracted their hand.

Sans laughed however and said “What’s the matter, Tori, don’t you want this dinner to be _magical_?” And he gave a wave of his hand, spinning the candlesticks around with his telekinesis.

Asriel took the hint and lit them with his fire magic, shooting his mother a wide grin. Toriel smiled and shook her head. Using magic in the open was still not accepted and she was still a tad nervous about it, but Sans and the kids were right: times were changing. It probably wouldn’t be long before magic would be actively taught in schools.

Manny grinned at Frisk. He loved that Frisk and he had similar types of magic. This wasn’t strictly true, as their magic came from very different sources, but the way the magic manifested itself was similar. Manny healed things that were hurt with Kindness, Frisk preserved things that were good with Determination. They were not the same thing, but they were both very good.

“I think a toast is certainly in order!” Asgore said cheerfully, looking around the table.

“Absolutely,” Toriel said. “Papyrus, would you do the honours?”

“Oh!” Papyrus cried. “Yes, of course!” He took up his glass and said: “A toast! Because we’re all so happy and because I love you all very much!”

A wave of smiles went round the table. Both because that wasn’t really a toast and because it was the best toast they had ever heard. They all raised their glasses, even Kaoru and Hikaru, and toasted to love and happiness.

“Now,” Toriel said, with a smile so wide it lit up her eyes. “Tuck in, everyone! There is more than enough, so eat your fill!”

Everybody enthusiastically filled their plates and as they ate, they talked about how long it had been since they had all had dinner together and how they should do it more often.

“We should do a set date once a month or something,” Undyne said.

“That is a good idea,” Katla nodded.

“But unless we do it in the weekends, it might be rather difficult,” Gaster said and Asgore nodded in silent agreement.

“But weekends are busy too,” Undyne sighed.

“Hey, it’s not _our_ fault you had to start the most popular self-defence centre in town!” Mettaton teased.

“You’re n-not one to talk,” Alphys laughed. “We’ve hardly seen you this month.”

“I know, I’m terrible,” Mettaton sighed. “The life of a star…”

“As long as you all come to our birthday party!” Asriel said.

“Yeah!” Frisk chimed in. “You can have all the cool careers you want, but _everyone_ has to be at our birthday party.”

“I don’t know,” Sans grinned. “It’s a Mettaton party, so it’s probably going to be pretty garish.”

“It’s going to be _lovely_ ,” Mettaton protested with affected indignation. “It’s going to be the most wonderful, touching, heart-warming, _extravagant_ eighteenth birthday party ever!”

Asriel and Frisk beamed at each other. They had been looking forward to this party since that New Year’s celebration eight years ago.

“Of course we will all be at the birthday party,” Papyrus said.

“Of course,” Katla laughed. “We would no sooner miss your big celebration than Papyrus and Mettaton’s wedding!”

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Alphys laughed as both Mettaton and Papyrus’ faces suddenly glowed with excitement and anticipation.

“Oh, darling, it’s going to be _so_ big,” Mettaton gushed. “People are going to be talking about it for _years_.”

“That’s fitting,” Sans chuckled. “Since it’s all that you two have been doing for years: _talking_ about it.”

“Well, _that’s_ the Moldsmal calling the Moldbygg gelatinous!” Mettaton said indignantly. “When are you and Tori finally getting married, hm?”

“We are,” Sans grinned.

“ _What?_ ” Mettaton spluttered.

“Yeah,” Sans said nonchalantly. “Tied the knot a couple years ago, did we forget to mention it?”

“You... I… WHAT?” Mettaton stammered. “Papyrus! Did you know about this?”

“Know about what?” Papyrus asked, looking up from his conversation with Gaster.

“About Sans and Toriel being MARRIED!” Mettaton exploded.

“Oh,” Papyrus said. “No, they’re not married. They just went to a desk with a nice lady that asked them some questions and they signed a paper.”

“You had a registry office wedding without telling us!” Undyne cried. “When?!”

Frisk, Asriel, and Manny snorted and chuckled while the others freaked out at Sans and Toriel. Asriel and Frisk had known because Sans and Toriel had discussed it with them before going through with it and of course Frisk had told Manny in their excitement. Papyrus and Gaster had known too, they had been the witnesses. Except Gaster had decided it was not his place to tell others and Papyrus had apparently never realised it had been a wedding in the first place. Toriel and Sans were not at all impressed at the outrage of the others; it only made them laugh. They hadn’t gotten married for anyone but themselves and they didn’t regret it one bit.

“I don’t see why you need to make such a fuss,” Toriel giggled. “It’s just two boring teachers getting married.”

“Well,” Sans winked. “I suppose they expected us to _teach_ them all a lesson about how a wedding is done.”

He still didn’t think of himself as a teacher, but for the sake of wordplay he’d allow it. Toriel really was a teacher by now. She still worked at the Council for Monster-Human Cohabitation as well though. There she mostly trained other monster (and the occasional human) teachers how to teach Monster History (an optional subject in some high schools) and Magic Theory (an optional subject that was rapidly becoming mandatory in the top grade of primary school and throughout high school).

“You b-better have taken pictures,” Alphys grumbled, helping Hikaru to cut up his meat.

“A few,” Toriel smiled.

“Didn’t need many, I get to look at her every day,” Sans grinned, winking at his wife.

Slowly the conversation turned from everyone’s fervent indignation at this romantic secrecy to other things. The main course was followed by several wonderful desserts and everybody ate until they simply couldn’t take another bite.

Even after they were done eating, nobody talked of leaving. They all sat around the table talking, while Hikaru and Kaoru slid off their chairs and crawled around their feet chasing Sir Pouncival, who was a big and rather lazy cat now. He hardly ever chased or hunted anymore, but for the twins he made an exception.

Eventually Katla and Toriel got up to make everyone coffee. It was a warm summer evening and the kids decided they would rather have lemonade than hot chocolate.

“I’ll come,” Frisk offered and they went with them to mix the lemonade.

“This evening is flying by,” Toriel said.

“I’ll say,” Katla sighed.

“It’s so nice to be all together,” Frisk said.

“Yes, it is,” Toriel replied and she gave their hair an affectionate ruffle.

When they came back with the drinks, Frisk gave Asriel his glass and then promptly sat down on Manny’s lap. They had brought one big glass of lemonade with two straws in it for them.

“Thank you, dear,” Asgore said, taking his coffee from Katla and offering her the sugar as she sat down beside him.

Papyrus’ coffee was mostly milk and Mettaton’s was mostly sugar. They looked happy sitting side by side sipping their atrocious concoctions. Next to them sat Alphys and Undyne, each with a child on their lap. Hikaru was nestled against Alphys and Kaoru curled safely in Undyne’s arms. It really was getting late and they were all tuckered out.

“Here you go, Gaster,” Toriel said. “And here you go, Sans.”

“Thank you,” Gaster said and Sans grinned:

“Are you sure you don’t need a cof- _fee_ for this delivery?”

“No payment needed,” Toriel laughed. “But I do accept donations!”

Sans chuckled and leaned his skull against her shoulder for a moment.

“Look,” Asriel smiled, leaning his chin on his paw. “Sun’s setting.”

Everybody looked as the golden glow of the setting sun spread across the sky, touching the few visible clouds with pink and shreds of purple.

“No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it never gets less amazing,” Toriel sighed.

“Amazing,” Gaster agreed.

“Heh,” Undyne smiled, looking at Alphys and her kids. “These tykes don’t know any better.”

“Isn’t that cool?” Frisk said happily. “There will be no more monsters that have never seen the sun.”

“Awesome,” Manny nodded.

And as the sun slowly set and the lights decorating the garden finally began to prove their worth, everybody quietly agreed that to see the sunset together after an evening such as this was pretty close to perfection.

Softly their voices filled the night air, talking about long ago and yesterday, asking what would happen tomorrow and theorising what might come true in the future. It was a lovely night, they were a wonderful family, and they were all very happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s what would have happened if CONTINUE never had been reloaded. I still prefer the other epilogue, but it really was a very close call when I was writing the finale so after reading a couple reviews it seemed fair to upload this as well. What do you think, which one do you prefer? I’d really like to know :)


	2. Bennet and Catty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An outtake from Alphys and Undyne's wedding focussing on Bennet (Burgerpants) and Catty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** I loved this scene because I ship Catty and Burgerpants hard, but it didn’t make sense to switch focus away from the main cast so drastically.

Really not in the mood for another heartfelt talk about the dangers of smoking, Bennett waited until Nathan was busy distributing cake among a small group of squealing children before he slipped away to go outside for a smoke. The sun had gone down already, but it wasn’t cold yet. Bennett stepped outside and instantly took a step back when he saw Catty sitting on the step outside, looking at the darkening sky. She had already heard him though and looked back in surprise.

“Oh,” she said hastily. “I didn’t- um…”

“I just,” Bennett began, almost turning away, but then he saw the crumpled handkerchief in Catty’s hand. He swallowed the question “Were you crying?” just in time and instead said sheepishly: “Do you mind if I have a smoke?”

“Of course not,” Catty said, tucking the handkerchief away in her purse, hoping he hadn’t seen it. “Do you want me to leave or?”

Bennett gave her a strange look. Did she really just ask if _she_ should leave _him_ alone?

“Nah,” he said. “I mean, you were here first.”

She smiled weakly and looked away. Hesitantly Bennett sat down next to her, but not too close. He lit a cigarette and for a while neither of them said anything. Bennett glanced at Catty. He thought she didn’t at all look like her usual happy, chatty self. He cleared his throat.

“Aren’t you, um, enjoying the party, or did you just need a break?” he muttered.

“I don’t know,” Catty said awkwardly. “I was having fun! It was so nice to see everyone and hear how they’re doing, but suddenly… It seemed like everyone was doing so great, you know, like _successful_ and stuff and I…” She shrugged.

Bennett felt bad. He had never pegged Catty as someone who second guessed herself. She and Bratty always sounded so confident. He didn’t really know what to say.

“I mean,” Catty sighed. “We used to have our own store, Bratty and I, now we work _for_ someone.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Bosses suck, but hey, you’re making stuff now aren’t you? It’s not like back in the Underground, collecting junk. You get to design things and people buy them. That’s pretty cool right?”

Catty smiled at him, surprised that he remembered. Bennett looked away. When they were hanging out with Nathan Catty and Bratty were always talking about their accessory store and the things their boss let them design and make themselves. He always pretended not to listen, but he did. Catty always looked so happy when she talked about it.

“Yes,” Catty admitted. “That part is pretty cool.”

“At least you’re doing what you love,” Bennett said. “Even if it’s not in your own store. I’m still waiting tables. I mean, it’s better than fast food, but still.”

“Yes, but you have to wait tables if you want to become a famous actor,” Catty said, smiling a little wider. “It’s tradition, right?”

“Heh,” Bennett hummed with a half-grin. “Maybe.” He sat a little more upright. “Hey, you want to see something I’ve been working on?”

“Yes!” Catty said enthusiastically. “Of course.”

“Alright,” Bennett said, putting out his cigarette. “Watch this.”

He faced her head-on so she could see his face clearly and started pulling faces at her. He grimaced and contorted his face until she was giggling and then he pulled his mouth into a dazzling grin.

“Oh!” she gasped, clapping her paws. “You look just like Mettaton!”

“Well, thank you, _darling_ ,” Bennett said, but he still needed to work on the voice.

Catty laughed anyway and cheered: “Do another!”

“Alright,” Bennett grinned, dropping the impression. “Guess this one.”

He opened his eyes enthusiastically and smiled so wide he almost got dimples in his cheeks.

“Gee, you look sad! How about I give you one of _my_ smiles!”

“Oh my god!” Catty giggled. “That is _so_ Nathan!”

Bennett touched his cheeks dramatically like the smiling hurt him and gave her a shy chuckle. Her yellow eyes were shining now and Bennett was glad of it.

“You know,” she said, scooting a little closer to him. “You should totally audition to be on a children’s show on television. You’d be really good at that.”

“You think so?” Bennett said uncertainly. He had never really thought of that.

“Yeah!” Catty said confidently. “Cause on kids shows you’re still allowed to make people laugh and you’re…you’re  really funny, Bennett.”

He stared at her, too busy trying to ignore the fact that his heart just skipped a beat to answer her.

“I mean it,” she said.

“Heh,” he muttered. “Thanks, Catty.”

He looked away nervously and rubbed the back of his head with his paw.

“Hey,” he said. “You, uh, wanna go back inside and dance or something?”

“With you?” Catty said, smiling like mad and trying really hard to keep her voice level. “ _Totally_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this outtake was stuck in amongst smaller leftover bits, but I thought it deserved it's own chapter. Chapter 3 still has the shorter scenes.


	3. Outtakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here are some other little scenes that I cut out of existing chapters because they somehow didn’t fit and ideas for scenes that just never made it into Happy Family.

**During Asriel’s sleepover…**

**Explanation:** Reader WildfireDreams asked me what happened at the “child free house” while Asriel, Frisk and Manny were having a sleepover at Asgore’s. I considered writing the following scene/chapter, but decided against it in the end:

_._

The child free house had a lovely quiet evening. Papyrus knitted. Sans skyped with Grillby to help him fix a problem with his computer. Toriel cooked something experimental with a lot of snails and new spices. In the evening, they all watched Interstellar (Sans wasn’t completely convinced by the science of it, Papyrus thought it was amazing and cried, Toriel got upset at Cooper leaving behind his children). Then Toriel and Sans went to bed early and Papyrus spent most of the evening reading about space online.

 … 

**Frisk, Toriel and Sans at the wedding**

**Explanation** : I cut this bit from the wedding chapter because it slowed down the bouquet tossing scene.

.

“Come on, Mom!” Frisk said, pushing Toriel forward. “Catch the bouquet!”

“But why, my child?” Toriel laughed. “I don’t need any more luck in love, do I?”

“No, but…” Frisk began, but then they abruptly shut their mouth.

“What?” Toriel asked, smiling.

Frisk kicked at a tuft of grass.

“At human weddings, the girl that catches the bouquet gets married next,” they said. “That’s what they say anyway…”

“I see,” Toriel said, repressing a smile.

“What are you two whispering about?” Sans asked, strolling up beside them.

“Nothing,” Frisk said quickly.

 …

**Muffet’s Teensy Emergency**

**Explanation:** Remember that Grillby and Muffet were late in the field trip chapter? Muffet mentioned that was because of a teensy emergency at her house. This was the emergency. I never wrote it out fully because the field trip chapter was already way too long. I knew that already when I started scribbling this, but I adore both Grillby and Muffet and I’m still sorry they didn’t feature more in Happy Family.

.

“Ready to go, Muffet?” Grillby asked, leaning against the doorpost when Muffet answered the door.

“Almost!” she said, sounding just a little stressed. “I just need to feed Muffin before we go.” She turned back into the house immediately and Grillby followed her, closing the door behind him.

He chuckled as Muffet’s heels clicked sharply on the stone tiles.

“Busy morning?” he asked sympathetically.

 “Grillby, dear, you have no idea,” Muffet sighed. “I’ve been up since four and I haven’t even had time for a cup of tea!”

She ran down the basement stairs where she kept her pet. Grillby followed her, hands in his pockets, spreading more light than was often seen in the basement.

“Muffin!” Muffet called out. “I’ve got a treat for you!” She shook a suspiciously squirming bag, but there was no familiar clicking of jaws to greet her.

“Muffin?” she repeated, resting four of her hands on her hips. “Muffin?”

There was no answer.

“Muffin!” Muffet snapped. “This is no time to be hiding. Come to the mistress, dearie.”

“Muffet, is that supposed to be open?” Grillby asked with a worried crackle in his voice and he pointed at a basement window. It should be too small for Muffet’s pet to get through, but it could be a very determined little monster.

“Goodness!” Muffet cried. “Oh dear… Poor thing must have gotten bored without me.”

“What’s this for then?” Grillby asked, gesturing at the heavy chain that was fastened onto a ring in the ground.

“I can’t keep the little darling chained up all the time!” Muffet said. “That would be _cruel_.”

“Right,” Grillby said. “So now your little darling is on the loose in the neighbourhood.”

“It can’t have gone far,” Muffet said, throwing the squirming bag into a corner and running back up the stairs. “I’m sure we’ll find it in no time.”

“I hope so,” Grillby muttered and he also hoped that they would have to find Muffin without the screams of neighbourhood children.

As it was, they _did_ find Muffin due to the screams of neighbourhood children, but luckily not the kind of screams Grillby had feared. One of the neighbour kids had seen Muffet shuffling around and had gone to investigate. By the time Muffet and Grillby arrived, four children were taking turns bouncing on Muffin’s cushiony back and screaming with laughter as they did so. Muffin didn’t seem to mind at all; instead it rather looked like it was enjoying the attention and it was certainly enjoying the contents of the children’s lunchboxes that it was being fed as a thank you.

Muffet thanked the children for taking care of her pet and graciously offered to replace their lunches with some of her best baked goods. The children happily accepted and faithfully promised not to tell their parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those were the outtakes, well, everything of substance anyway. I’m glad I got to share them after all!


	4. Spider Success With A New Bakery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muffet get's settled in on the surface and starts a new bakery, with some help from Grillby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** This chapter started out as a one-shot requested by Barbacar on FanFiction. Some specific details of their request didn't quite fit with what I wanted for Happy Family, but I liked the bakery I designed for Muffet so much I featured it in the chapter "Muffet's Bakery".  
>  I came back to this because I really wanted more Muffet and Grillby. So, I rewrote it a bit to make it fit completely with Happy Family and here it is!   
> It will of course have overlap with "Muffet's Bakery", but I still thought it was worth sharing, if only for the Muffet & Grillby friendship.

Life on the surface was different for every monster. For some it was relatively easy to find a place to live and to get a job to support themselves. For others it was more difficult. In Muffet’s case, the difficulty had been that she had not just needed to find a home for herself, but also for all her fellow spiders. She had manged to find a suitable house eventually though. It was a nice old house in a quiet neighbourhood with plenty of dry, dark corners to hide in. Of course, Muffet didn’t tell the people she was buying it from that she was going to move in with a large group of spiders. With a little luck, the neighbours would just assume she lived there alone and so far everything had gone well. The spiders from Hotland and the Ruins were reunited and living safely under one roof.

With that priority sorted, Muffet had devoted herself fully to her new goal: starting a spider bakery.

“After all,” she had told her spiders. “Talents like ours should be made use of. For the monsters, our food will be nostalgic; for the humans, it will be new and exciting. I will start looking around for a suitable place immediately.”

So that was what she had done and, after a while, she had found the perfect place. A little shop with a bakery behind it that was ready for use.

“I think it’s perfect,” she said to Grillby, who had offered to lend her a hand. After all, he had experience in the food industry.

“I shall call it The Parlour,” she decided. “Perhaps one day I will have a little tea room to go with it.”

“Let’s get the baking part sorted out first,” Grillby said.

His words were rather hard to understand. His voice sounded like the crackling of a fire and the actual syllables of the words were almost lost in the sound of flames, but Muffet had very sensitive ears and she could understand him just fine.

“Of course,” she said. “Tomorrow I will bring my best spiders here and we will make something stylish out of this old place!”

It was amazing what could be accomplished with hundreds of eight-legged helpers. In hardly no time at all, the shabby old shop began to look like the sweetest little bakery in the world. The windows and glass panes in the counter were polished until they gleamed. The walls were painted a creamy white and all the woodwork was painted lavender. Over the entrance of the shop hung a beautifully painted sign that said:

**The Parlour**

_Authentic arachnid patisserie_

And when you went inside, the first thing you saw were the curly letters painted on the far wall that spelled out:

_“Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly…_

On the shiny counter stood two little handwritten signs that said:

_All proceeds go to spider housing and welfare._

And:

_Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders._

Behind the counter was a wooden door with old fashioned carvings that led to the office and the bakery behind the shop.

“Well _done_ , my darlings,” Muffet said, clapping her six hands. “Tomorrow we’ll be able to begin the baking!”

Very contentedly she went home, stopping by the store to buy a nice treat for her pet. She went down to feed it as soon as she got home.

Muffet kept her pet in the basement of the new house. It liked the dark and, all in all, it was good that it was out of sight of the neighbours. Humans could be so nervous, so it was better they didn’t see it.

“Muffin?” Muffet called into the darkness, blinking her five eyes. “I have a lovely snack for you!”

With the unmistakable sound of snapping fangs, her pet came bounding toward her.

“There you are, Muffin!” she squealed, patting the beast on its bulky head. “Who’s a good arachnid?” she giggled. “You are!”

She tossed the piece of meat into the air and the spidery monster leaped and caught it in mid-air.

“Aren’t you precious,” Muffet cooed. “I wish you could see my new bakery. It really is lovely! But all these humans get so irrationally jumpy around things with pretty claws and darling fangs like yours.”

She scratched Muffin on the back of its head and it blinked its eyes appreciatively.

“Never mind, dearie,” she soothed. “Perhaps we’ll be lucky and another silly kitty cat will crawl through the basement window for you to play with!”

With that, she went back upstairs to make herself ready for bed. After all, most baking had to be done at night, so the goods would be fresh in the morning and if she was going to be working nights Muffet could sure use some beauty sleep now.

…

It was very early in the morning, so early it was still pitch black outside, and Muffet was hard at work in her bakery. She was in an excellent mood. This would be the day her bakery officially opened its doors and she was certain it would be a success.

Outside, in the dark street, a strange light moved across the pavement. It threw flickering shadows on the dark store buildings and held still in front of the little bakery.

The little bell above the bakery door tinkled when Grillby stepped inside.

“Muffet?” he called out, a roar of flames nearly drowning out the word.

“I’m in the back, Grillby!” Muffet called back.

Grillby walked to the baking room and stood in the doorway. He could not very easily have gone inside without incinerating some spiders. Grillby’s flames were not usually dangerous but he couldn’t guarantee the safety of things that literally walked into him.

The spiders were _everywhere_. Crawling up and down the walls and across the floor. Carrying cooking utensils and ingredients between them. Walking through the mixing bowls and over the batches of pastries that were waiting to be baked.

In the midst of this choreography of spiders, Muffet was kneading the dough. She looked like a proper little baker. Her hair was tied back and she wore a pale pink cotton chef’s hat. The red ribbons holding back her hair just peeked out from underneath it.

She was clicking her fangs happily and working the batch of dough over and over with her six hands. The spiders scurried across the mass of dough, skilfully dodging her busy fingers.

“How is it going?” Grillby asked with a friendly crackle.

“Wonderfully,” Muffet smiled. “I am almost done with this batch and when I am we shall stoke the oven.”

“I’d be more than happy to help with that,” Grillby offered generously.

“How sweet of you,” Muffet giggled.

She divided the dough into portions and twisted it into little round cakes.

“There we go,” she said and she started to plop them onto a big baking tray. “Phew,” she breathed and she fanned herself with two of her hands.

A big spider came running with a white lace handkerchief that she gratefully took.

“Thank you, dearie,” Muffet smiled and she dabbed her forehead with it.

“Mind you don’t get overheated,” Grillby chuckled.

Muffet looked at him, threw her head back, and laughed.

“Was that a pun, Grillby?” she giggled. “You’ve been spending too much time with the short skeleton.” She wiped her hands on her frilly apron. “Can I redeem your offer to help with the ovens now?”

Grillby nodded and went to light the ovens for her. The spiders scurried away into the corners, making sure to stay out of his way. Soon the ovens were good and hot and Grillby helped Muffet with the moving of baking trays and the last finishing touches.

Muffet baked batch after batch of sweet-smelling pastries and, when they were all done, she had her spiders carry them to the shop and put them on display.

“Doesn’t that look _darling_ ,” she gushed.

“Very nice,” Grillby agreed. “But I would advise you to keep your spiders out of sight when you open your store.”

“Oh, well, if you say so,” Muffet replied.

She took off her apron and smoothed her blouse.

“Run along, my lovelies,” she said to her scurrying helpers. “It’s almost time to open the shop!”

The spiders made themselves scarce. Some crawled back into the back room or the bakery, others simply disappeared into a dark corner and stayed there.

Muffet carefully adjusted her chef’s hat and contentedly turned the sign on the door to:

**_Open_ **

“Now there’s nothing to do but wait,” she said with a sigh. “I think I shall make us a cup of tea.”

Grillby nodded silently in agreement.

When they had finished their first cup of tea, Muffet poured them a second one. Finished meant that Muffet had drunk hers, but Grillby didn’t actually drink non-flammable liquids. He just held the cup in his hand of swirling flames and let the tea evaporate.

Before Muffet could take a sip of her second cup, she saw someone standing outside the store. She put the cup down on its saucer and smiled excitedly.

She could tell it was a child, a little girl, that was nearly pressing her nose against the glass of the store window.

The door opened, ringing the little bell, and the little girl came in, followed by her mother. The mother hung back a little, staring at Muffet with wide eyes, but the little girl skipped to the counter and asked “Who are you?”

“I am Muffet,” she answered the child with a smile that showed her fangs. “The owner of this spider bakery.”

The girl looked at her with an open mouth, but she wasn’t the least bit scared.

“Do you have spider cookies here?” she asked eagerly.

“I’m sorry,” Muffet smiled. “Not today. But I have spider donuts, arachnid croissants, and a generous selection of other spider pastries.”

She gestured to the assorted goods on display.

“None of these are shaped like spiders…” the little girl said.

“No,” Muffet said, still smiling. “But they are real spider pastries. Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders.”

“Really?” the child said. “Cool!”

She turned to her mother.

“Mommy, can I have pastries for my friends at the party?” she asked. “They have real spiders in them!”

The mother laughed nervously.

“Is that so?” she said. “I fear you might have understood the nice…lady.”

“Not at all,” Muffet said. “All my spider pastries are one hundred percent genuine.”

“See?” the girl said triumphantly. “Can I have some?”

The terrified mother silently paid for eight spider donuts and Muffet wrapped them in grease paper and handed them to the little girl.

“There you go, dearie,” she said.

“Thank you, Miss Muffet,” the girl answered politely.

“You are just the cutest,” Muffet giggled. “You’re such a sweet little thing. I could just bake you into a batch of cupcakes!”

The girl left looking more than content and her mother followed her quickly, with an alarmed look on her face.

“You know,” Grillby said, leaning on the counter. “It might be good for business if you don’t threaten to eat your customers.”

“Nonsense,” Muffet said. “It’s a compliment, isn’t it?”

She looked around the bakery with a proud sigh.

“That was my first sale!” she said. “And to a human too!”

“Perhaps you should give a party,” Grillby suggested. “A grand opening, with guests, to establish yourself in the community.”

“That is a lovely idea,” Muffet agreed. “I shall look into that!”

One of her eyes fell on a box underneath the counter and she made a delighted sound.

“Oh!” she said. “I forgot I got these.” She took out the box and unwrapped a couple of pretty little lanterns from the tissue paper they were packed in.

“I thought these would look lovely on the counter and in the window,” she said, unpacking the candles that needed to go into the lanterns. “Provided I don’t place them too close to the pastries, of course.”

She searched in the box and under the counter, but couldn’t find her box of matches anywhere. She took up a candle and glanced at Grillby. He turned around.

“You weren’t thinking of lighting that on me, were you?” he said, a decidedly lower crackle to his voice than usual.

“Dearie me,” Muffet gasped. “That would be terribly rude of me, would it not?” She held out the candle to him and batted her black eyes. “Would you?”

Grillby sighed and extended a hand to light her candle.

“Thank you, Grillby,” she smiled and she quickly lit the other candles with the one he had just lit and placed them in their lanterns. It looked very pretty.

When they looked up, they saw a group of fascinated teenagers looking in through the shop window. Quickly, Muffet came out from behind the counter and walked to the door. Her heeled feet clicked on the floor and her cigar trailed a thin swirl of smoke through the shop. She opened the door with an inviting smile.

“Will you walk into my parlour?” she invited, sweetly blinking her eyes. “We sell genuine spider pastries of each and every kind.”

“ _Wicked_ ,” one of the teenagers muttered under his breath and the others nodded, following him inside.

“That guy is made out of _fire_ ,” a girl whispered to her friend.

“There is a spider in this croissant!” a boy yelled. “I can see the legs!”

“ _Cool…_ ”

Muffet turned to Grillby and gave him a dazzling smile.

“This is going to be easy!” she said and she walked back behind the counter, where the teenagers were jostling each other to get a good look at the pastries.

“Now, now,” she smiled. “There is no need to push. There is more than enough for each and every one of you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh oh, Muffet and Grillby. Really, if I ever do have time for another Undertale fic and it _isn't_ a sequel, it would definitely be about Muffet and Grillby and their culinary endeavours. 
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	5. Soriel Engagement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** A bonus scene that takes place somewhere between CONTINUE/RELOAD and the "7 years later"-epilogue. I'll leave it up to you to decide when exactly.

Almost everyone in the household agreed that Toriel’s lap was definitely one of the most comfortable places in the world. She hardly sit down with a book without someone trying to claim the favourite spot, be it Sir Pouncival, Sans, or one of the kids, who had certainly acquired some teenage sass but none of the stereotypical teenage aversion to hugs. At the moment, it was Sans who lay with his head on her lap, snoozing away while she read.

 Toriel lowered her book for a second and looked down at Sans with a soft, thoughtful expression on her face

“Sans?” she asked gently.

“Yeah, Tori?” Sans hummed, eye sockets still closed.

“Would you ever want to get married?”

Sans abruptly looked up at her, the lights in his sockets rather larger than usual. “Would _you_?” he asked, after a fraction’s hesitation.

“It’s not really a one-person decision,” Toriel laughed softly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Sans said, sitting up. “I mean… Getting married doesn’t mean anything on its own…getting married to you does.”

“So, would you want to get married?” Toriel asked, and she added with a smile: “To each other?”

Sans gave her a rather nervous look. “I always thought you wouldn’t want to,” he confessed. “You know…getting married…again.”

Toriel smiled and shook her head. “It wouldn’t be again,” she said. “That implies it would be the same and I cannot think of a single way in which it would be.”

Sans grinned. “I guess that’s true,” he said.

There was a short silence in which they both smiled to themselves and tried to make sense of the muddle in their minds. Eventually Sans said: “I guess we’ll ask the kids next, huh?”

“Yes,” Toriel said with a smile. “That is probably best.”

Sans shot her a grin, lights twinkling in the dark of his eye sockets. “Guess I’ll tell them I tried to resist your charms, but to no a- _veil_.”

“And I will tell them that denying the bond between us was _knot_ an option,” Toriel giggled.

“Well, I’ve certainly met my _match_ in you!” Sans grinned widely.

Toriel laughed until she snorted and when she had caught her breath, she wiped her eyes and said “Oh dear, it will be so strange and so wonderful to be husband and wife.”

“Yeah,” Sans said, looking fondly at her. “My wife Toriel. I’m Toriel’s husband… Sure has a nice _ring_ to it.”

Toriel burst out laughing again, just as much at Sans’ smug face as at the pun.

“Tori,” Sans said when she was no longer out of breath.

“Yes, Sans,” she said, almost giggling again.

Sans put on his most serious face and asked sincerely: “Tori, would you join me in matri- _bony_?”

Toriel had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing, but she just managed to reply with an almost straight face and eyes shining like stars: “Are you sure you want my answer to that very _engaging_ question?”

Sans snorted and Toriel didn’t wait for his answer in order to give her own: “Yes, Sans. Yes, I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was this just an excuse to write marriage puns? Maybe. But it was mostly an excuse to write some more Soriel ;)


	6. Whispers In The Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** A short bonus chapter about how Frisk and Manny got together.
> 
> You have my reader and friend **Crow the Mad** to thank for this one. He suggested that Skillet's "Whispers In The Dark" would be a good song for Manny to confess his feelings with and I couldn't resist writing it.  
>  It didn't fit into the Happy Family timeline though, so I couldn't use it... until now!

“You know what I read?” Manny said, suddenly remembering. “I read that there’s special dogs that watch you when you sleep.”

“Really?” Frisk asked curiously. “Why?”

They were lying on the floor of Manny’s room, staring idly up at the ceiling and listening to music. The curtains were half drawn against the light of the slowly setting sun.

“They’re like service dogs,” Manny said, rolling from his back to his side. His tail was falling asleep. “When their owner has a nightmare, they wake them up and, I dunno, comfort them, I guess.”

“That’s nice,” Frisk said. “I didn’t know service dogs did that too.”

“Yeah,” Manny said. “It’s pretty cool.” He tried to make eye contact with Frisk, but they were watching the spots of sunlight play across the mural on the wall.

It was a huge painting of King Ghidorah. Manny had designed it, but Frisk and Asriel had helped with the actual painting, especially with the higher parts. The armless, three headed dragon had turned out really impressive. Manny was proud of it. The only pity was that his parents hadn’t agreed to buy them an endless supply of gold paint, so they had had to paint him in yellows and ochres with gold accents. The little touches of gold were shimmering in the last sunlight now. Frisk remembered how much fun they had had painting it and how much trouble it had been getting the paint out of Asriel’s fur and out from between Manny’s scales.

“Maybe,” Manny mumbled. “Maybe you should get a dog like that.”

Frisk turned their head and looked at him, surprised.

“Me?” they said.

Manny had wanted to look Frisk in the eye but now he was avoiding their gaze.

“Yeah,” he said. “You know.”

Frisk sat up, leaning their back against the side of Manny’s bed. Manny sat up too, giving them an embarrassed grin. He knew Frisk had nightmares. When they were small, they had talked about it once or twice. As they got older, he’d just kind of known. Sometimes Frisk showed up to school looking so tired they couldn’t possibly have slept well. Admittedly, that was usually when there was something else going on to stress about, like tests, or a conflict within their friend group. Frisk hated fights and if they couldn’t solve them immediately, they stayed upset about them until they were solved.

“I don’t need a service dog,” Frisk laughed. “Isn’t that for like people with PTSD or something?”

Manny gave them an armless shrug. “Why wouldn’t it be for you too? If you need one...”

“I _don’t_ ,” Frisk said. “Really, it’s fine.” They looked at him and then looked away shyly. “I went to someone to talk about it for a while, couple years ago. That helped a lot. But, thanks…it’s nice of you to worry about me.”

“I don’t worry about you,” Manny said seriously. “You’re one of the strongest people I know! I just want you to be, you know, happy…and stuff.”

Frisk fidgeted with the sleeves of their sweater. They were purposely not looking at each other, both pretending to be very interested in their own hands, or, in Manny’s case, his feet.

“You really think I’m a strong person?” Frisk mumbled.

“Course you are,” Manny replied. “Always were.”

There was a long silence, luckily filled up by the background music. One playlist ended and another started and suddenly Frisk cleared their throat and said:

“When I have a nightmare – and I hardly do anymore by the way, really – but when I do, it’s about not being strong enough.”

This time Manny looked up and met Frisk’s eyes. They looked nervous, and a little sad.

“Not strong enough for what?” Manny asked.

“To be a good person,” Frisk muttered, drawing their knees up to their chest. “You know that time after we just met and you almost fell off that cliff?”

“Of course I do!” Manny said. “You rescued me!” He grinned so wide at Frisk that they smiled back, but they forced themselves to continue:

“Yeah, but what if I hadn’t? What if I’d been too scared or…what if I just hadn’t cared and just let you fall?”

“You didn’t though,” Manny said seriously, frowning a little. “And you never would.”

“But what if I _had_ ,” Frisk repeated, they looked away and hugged their knees. “That’s the kind of stuff I dream about.”

“Why?” Manny asked, confused. “If you would have been too scared to help me, Undyne would have.” He looked at Frisk’s face. “You’re not really afraid of not being brave enough are you?”

Frisk shook their head.

“What then?” Manny asked. “Why would you worry _now_ about things that never happened _then_?”

“Because I can see them sometimes,” Frisk said, their voice hardly louder than a whisper. “It’s like it _did_ happen, just not here. And I used to be really afraid that it would happen anyway, like…like it would all happen again but the bad version this time. I’m not afraid of that anymore. Really, I’m not. And the nightmares are different, when they come, not like when we were small. It’s just… Sometimes it’s like I still hear things from my old nightmares. You know, like echoes. When I’m alone in the dark.” They took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. “But I know it’s not real. And it never lasts long.”

They smiled at Manny, who was looking at them rather strangely. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“Besides, can you imagine Uncle Papyrus trying to live with a dog?” Frisk smiled.

Manny was still looking at them with a strange sort of conflicted look on his face. Frisk wished he’d say something.

“Hey,” they said. “We’re gonna be seventeen soon. Isn’t it weird that when we met we were more than half as young as we are now?”

“Yeah…” Manny said. “Pretty weird.”

He got to his feet and walked to his laptop on the desk. It had a wireless keyboard connected to it that lay on a plank low under his desk so he could easily reach it with his feet. Frisk followed him with their eyes, unsure if what they had said had weirded him out. He was being so quiet. Manny was never quiet. But they had known each other for so long. It was _Manny_ , surely if he had something to say he’d just say it?

“I’ve been collecting new songs,” Manny said suddenly, searching through a folder on his laptop. “You know, to practice singing.”

“Oh,” Frisk said, a little uncertain because of the sudden change of subject. “Cool.”

“Yeah,” Manny mumbled. “Well, if I ever get good at it, the singing, I mean, I’d sing this one for you.”

He pressed enter, walked back to Frisk’s side, and sat down without looking at them. The music started really softly and then guitar chords filled the room. Frisk listened silently and looked over at Manny. He was staring at the floor, waiting for the chorus.

_“No,_   
_You'll never be alone,_   
_When darkness comes, I'll light the night with stars,_   
_Hear the whispers in the dark…”_

Frisk felt their heart beating a little louder with every line. Manny’s eyes were stubbornly fixed on a spot on the floor that he wasn’t really seeing and he was fighting the hot feeling creeping upwards from his neck that he hoped didn’t show as a blush.

_“No,_   
_You'll never be alone,_   
_When darkness comes you know I'm never far,_   
_Hear the whispers in the dark,_   
_Whispers in the dark…”_

“Manny?” Frisk said.

Manny tried to just listen to the lyrics and not think. He made an effort, turned his head, and looked at Frisk. They were a lot closer than he had expected.

_“I will be the one that's gonna hold you_  
_I will be the one that you run to_  
 _My love is, a burning-”_

Frisk leaned forward and their lips touched Manny’s. It was only for a second and so softly they could hardly feel each other, but it felt like both their faces were burning up with more heat than the sun. They looked at each other and Frisk was sure Manny must be able to hear the thumping of their heart.

“Heh,” Manny grinned awkwardly.

“Hm,” Frisk hummed, cracking a smile.

The song ended.

“Uh, cool song, right?” Manny said, trying to keep his voice from screaming to expressing the outrageous happiness he felt inside.

“Yeah,” Frisk grinned, swallowing a cry of incredulity and triumph. “Really cool.”

“Wanna hear another one?” Manny asked.

Frisk nodded. Manny got up and silently selected an album playlist. Then he sat down again, a little closer to Frisk this time and they listened to the music. They sat side by side, struggling against the grins on their faces. Not talking or looking at each other yet, but moving closer and closer until their shoulders touched and they were leaning against one another, glowing with happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These kids are going to be the death of me I love them so much.
> 
> Hope all you Frisk/Monster Kid shippers liked it!
> 
> PS. Yes, all the kids went to a therapist (not the same one though) after the events of the finale. So did some of the adults. A decision they probably should have made long ago.


	7. Happy Headcanons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here are some things that I decided are true within Happy Family, but that never made it explicitly into the story. If you’ve been to my Happy Family Tumblr you have probably seen these already ;)

**Timeline**

Reader AngelOfTheUnderground once asked me how long the monsters had been on the surface and that made me realise I’ve never really thought about it. The progression of time had never been very important in Happy Family, for one thing I kind of ignored the seasons to have the weather and holidays I wanted to write about, regardless of chronological logic.

I tried to draw up a timeline, but failed miserably, mostly because of aforementioned holidays. I do know three things however:

  1. When the barrier was broken not all the monsters left the underground straight away. A small delegation led by Frisk made first contact with the humans, after which the other monsters followed. They all spent some time living in a refugee camp, while the humans appointed the Council for Monster-Human Cohabitation, worked on legislation, got everyone papers and eventually started to rehousing them and entering the children into schools.
  2. Asriel was saved when Frisk and family had been living on the surface for almost a year.
  3. Frisk was around 7 or 8 when they fell, 8 years old when Happy Family begins and 10 years old at the time of the Finale.



…

**The War of Humans and Monsters**

Despite seeing amazing fanfics with lovely interpretations of it, I don’t think Asgore and Toriel are old enough to remember the War of Humans and Monsters.

Undyne makes a point of saying Gerson is a hero, because he fought in the war and survived. So Asgore couldn’t have fought in it, or Undyne would mention that too. Besides, I think Asgore and Toriel would probably have been harsher rulers had they lived through the war, less willing to accept Chara like they did and more hateful towards humans.

I think Gerson is one of the few monsters that actually remembers the war (well, when he manages to remember) with other elderly monsters still living being no older than children when it took place.

In my mind, that is why Toriel and Asgore both have history books around telling the story of the war, because they need to remember and teach the new generation about it. They didn’t write those books and they were little kids (pun intended) or not even born yet when the monsters were driven to the Underground.

…

**Gaster**

Even though Gaster is a big softie and a great dadster, he is definitely the kind of monster that humans would be very afraid of at first. Most monsters in the underground at least look like animals but Gaster is a shadow monster. Gaster’s coat is made of a substance that is essentially materialized shadow. He cannot take that coat off, it is not a coat, it’s his body. Gaster’s physical form consists of dark matter and white matter. His limbs are made of white matter and house his mind and conscience. His soul is diffused over his whole being and is essentially what keeps him together in one piece. Gaster could change his shape dramatically if he wanted to, at least he used to be able to do that before his ‘accident’. It is impossible to fight Gaster by striking his body, you’d have to go for his head, hands or feet. Those are much more stable than his body and have a texture like rough porcelain. They also radiate heat, while the black matter of his body is completely neutral in temperature (it doesn’t radiate or absorb any heat). I can’t draw but if I could, I’d draw Gaster as a strange cross between a porcelain doll, a skeleton, and No-Face from Spirited Away.

…

**River and Gaster**

River and Gaster are both shadow monsters, capable of letting both their minds and body wander. Shadow monsters are pretty rare and they are definitely related. How closely? Neither of them will say. Still, River is Gaster’s only living natural family. They used to be close before Gaster’s scientific career lead him down a certain path that River did not agree with. Their relationship got increasingly strained until the day a specific experiment involving the blurring of dimensions landed Gaster with a permanent crack in his physical form and two skeleton kids to take care of. River expected Gaster to finally admit that his experiments were dangerous, but Gaster was wholly unapologetic about the incident. He flat-out refused to see the circumstances that gave him his beloved adopted sons as anything but a good thing, so eventually he and River estranged completely. When Gaster disappeared, River knew he wasn’t really gone, but ze never told Sans or Papyrus and never did anything to try and bring him back. River does not feel guilty about not risking zir life to undo Gaster’s shattering, but ze does feel guilty about not telling his children he wasn’t actually dead.

River is the very definition of gender fluid, in fact ze is everything-fluid. Shadow monsters need to choose to be a stable form. Gaster has done this. He always looks the same and, consequently, his mind and soul are stable too. River keeps zir material form much more fluid and this reflects on zir mental state as well. River’s mind wanders and swirls across time and space just like their physical form is mostly dense shadows and nothing of real solidity. This makes River something of a clairvoyant, but also extremely incoherent.

…

**Alphys**

Alphys was raised by her grandmother for most of her childhood. They lived in a small house in New Home. All the kids in the neighbourhood called her Granny and her front door was always open to anyone that needed a cup of cocoa, a smile, or an interesting scientific fact. The quiet kids always seemed to find their way to Alphys’ grandma’s house. So even though Alphys didn’t have any siblings, she never got lonely.

…

**Grillby and Muffet**

Grillby and Muffet met because she was passing through Snowdin on her way to talk to the spiders in the ruins. Since she’s not exactly a spider, Muffet can stand the cold a bit better, but she got so cold that she couldn’t make it all the way without taking a break to warm up. So she went into Grillby’s to get out of the cold for a while. She was so chilled Grillby offered to help and after he had warmed her up and given her something hot to drink, they got to talking. They had a long discussion about food preparation and when she had to leave, she promised to stop at his pub again when she was on her way back. She did and they have been friends ever since.

…

**Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster**

Sans and Papyrus lived with Gaster in New Home from the day they arrived in the Underground. He raised them there and Papyrus doesn’t remember any childhood other than that. They were no longer children when Gaster fell into the Core, but they were far too young to lose their father. Papyrus was devastated and Sans scrambled to keep himself together so he could take care of his brother. Since Sans had been training with Gaster, some monsters expected him to follow in his footsteps concerning his scientific work. Asgore was in favour of this but was also very unwilling to put such pressure on a young person. Alphys, a scientist in training just like Sans but in a different field, encouraged him to do it. Sans didn’t want to. He wanted to leave more than anything. But Alphys was his friend and he didn’t want to tell her that. Sans stalled for time, not knowing what to do, and eventually he convinced Papyrus they needed a fresh start. So they moved to Snowdin, where they became sentries (plus some other jobs for Sans). Gaster’s position as official Royal Scientist wasn’t filled until Alphys managed to create Mettaton. Before she accepted the position, she asked Sans for his blessing. Sans gave it immediately.

…

**Alphys and Undyne**

Undyne is the one that plans elaborate surprises for Alphys and spends weeks preparing if she has to. She’ll rope others into her schemes to make them work and she makes sure never to breathe a word of any of it to Alphys, because the anticipation would just stress her out. Undyne’s surprises are always perfect and have the best possible timing so Alphys can’t help but love them.

But Alphys is the one that leaves cute notes around the house and secretly goes by the store on the way home from work to pick up Undyne’s favourite snack. She’s the one that quietly leaves a DVD of Undyne’s favourite show on the living room table that day she knows Undyne is going to come home tired and grumpy after a long day at work. And Undyne adores her for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those were my headcanons! Hope you enjoyed :)  
> I know a lot of you are curious about monster babies (especially skele-goat babies) so I will be uploading an explanation about that. It's just a little long so it will get its own chapter.


	8. Monster Bebes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Explanation:** This is really just another headcanon, but it’s so long that I decided to post it on its own. Reader No Sleep Until Vacation asked me how I thought monsters having babies would work and this is what I came up with for Happy Family.

There are many different types of monsters. They look different and possess different types of magic. Their magic is linked to their souls _and_ their bodies. Just like some bodies are biologically compatible, some types of magic are more compatible than others.

Monsters cannot get pregnant accidentally (well, technically they can, but monsters are only fertile if they actually do have a desire to have a child. Accidental pregnancies occur only when the heart overruled reason.)

For two monsters to have a child together, their magic has to be compatible. If their magic and bodies are both highly compatible, they can have a child that is truly a mix of the two parents in every way. These partners are able to make biologically and magically/spiritually simultaneously and one (or both of them depending on monster type) will get pregnant in such a way.

Bodies being compatible but the magic not being compatible hardly ever happens. That would be very strange since bodies are closely linked to magic. The magic being compatible but not the bodies however, does happen a lot. These couples have to create their child with magic alone and one parent must provide the physical parentage on their own.

If neither body nor magic are compatible, a couple will not be able to conceive a child naturally. Couples like this are rare, because magic is linked to souls and therefore kindred spirits, but it is not unheard of.

To explain the compatibilities I have some examples for you.

 

**Completely compatible**

Toriel and Asgore are the same monster type. Their physical and magical makeup is completely compatible. The result is Asriel, who was conceived by Asgore, carried by Toriel, and was born as a perfect blend of both of them both physically and magically.

 

**Mostly compatible**

Alphys and Undyne are not the same monster type, but their physical makeup is still very compatible and their magic is completely compatible. Their magical and physical mating resulted in an egg, that could have been laid by either of them (but was laid by Undyne because she is physically stronger). It was cared for by both of them and from that egg hatched twin boy monsters with physical and magical traits linked to both parents. This is why Undyne thought that getting twins was such a parenting win; it means that her and Alphys’ magic and wish for children was so strong it was capable of creating two whole new beings instead of one!

 

**Magically compatible**

Papyrus and Mettaton are not at all the same monster type. Papyrus is a skeleton monster, Mettaton is a ghost. Their physical makeup is incompatible, but their magic is reasonably compatible. They would have to decide which of them would become the physical parent of their child and then combine their magic accordingly. Skeleton monsters are rare and having a child is quite difficult for them, especially without another skeletal partner. The safest and easiest way to make a Papyton baby would be to have Mettaton be the physical partner. He is a physically fused ghost, but a ghost nonetheless, and his child would be a ghost as well. Ghosts make children through a long process of astral projection aided by magic. His and Papyrus’ magic combined would call the child into being. The child would first be a part of Mettaton and they would have to keep strengthening the child with magic at intervals until it was strong enough to manifest as a separate being. When that happens, the little Papyton tyke would be a ghost without physical form (maybe Alphys can build another robot for him), but would definitely have some of Papyrus’ magical and character traits.

 

**Skeletons**

Sans and Papyrus are the only skeletons in the Underground for two reasons. The first is that they come from ‘somewhere else’ that I am not going to talk about, the second is that it is quite hard for a skeleton to have a child. Two skeletons grow a child between themselves, magically and physically. This requires the two partners to bodily fuse together (usually at the ribs or hip bones) until the child’s body is fully formed. This process can take anywhere from seven days to seven months, depending on the strength of the parent’s magic. During this process both partners are very vulnerable and their freedom of movement is extremely constricted. No other monster type can fuse with a skeleton to create a skeletal baby. It is possible for another monster type to conceive a child with a skeleton partner magically, but this has repercussions. Since the skeletal parent would have to create the child’s physical body all on his own, they would have to literally sacrifice part of their own body. When the child breaks away the parent’s body would no longer be whole. If the magic creating the child is strong enough and the skeletal parent is physically and magically strong, this is not painful and neither is it particularly dangerous. It is a very drastic change however and leaves a very great emotional impact that might be hard to deal with.

 

**Monster and humans**

Monster-human babies are possible, but since human reproduction is almost exclusively biological, it could only work in specific cases. Monsters types that are technically mammals like humans could most probably conceive a child with or bear a child from a human. Some other physical combinations (like a human male and an egg laying monster female) might be possible too. How the child would turn out, physically and magically, would be a total gamble, because a human’s physicality is strong, but so is a monster’s magic. Humans with extremely strong souls are capable of channelling magic, so they would be able to create a child magically. A child between a mammal type monster and a magically inclined human would give the most perfect monster-human blend. A magically inclined human could, with a lot of effort, possibly magically conceive a child with a child-bearing monster partner. This child would barely show their human parentage however.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, that was all the bonus content I had stored away.  
> I hope it was fun to read and answered some questions. 
> 
> If you still have questions, feel free to ask! Perhaps I'll add some more headcanons or little scenes to this bonus collection later, but I can't promise anything. Happy Family has been my life for a pretty long time now and some pressing matters are calling me back to the real world.
> 
> Thank you and goodnight ;)


	9. Frisk and Asriel's Special Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very important announcement!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! Talented writer and dedicated Happy Family reader **NoSleepUntilVacation** has used her considerable literary skills to start a **[SEQUEL](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8142365/chapters/18662657)** to Happy Family!
> 
> It’s going to be about the eighteenth birthday party that Mettaton promised to throw for Frisk and Asriel to make up for them not going to his New Year’s bash and it is going to be awesome. She has been showing me scenes and asking me about character details since she started writing it a while ago and I can safely say that if you liked Happy Family you will like her story too.
> 
> Now of course it isn’t the _same_ story. She isn’t imitating me, she is writing her own story in the same universe. But I personally adore her first chapter and I highly recommend you check it out! In short: this story was written with my complete consent and carries my seal of approval, but I have not been involved in its creation apart from being a source of inspiration.
> 
> To give you a little taste, here is one of her adorable scenes:

Asriel looked up from the card. "Heh...we're gonna have a lot of thank-you notes to write, huh?"

"No kidding. And we haven't even gotten to the presents yet!" Frisk leaned back, thinking of what presents they might get at the party. "Wait a minute..."

"Huh? What's up, Frisk?"

Frisk had a perplexed look on their face. "We got cards from everyone except-"

"Me? Don't worry, kiddo, I got your cards right here."

Frisk yelped a bit at Sans' sudden appearance. "W-where'd you come from, Dad?"

Sans shrugged. "You'll have to ask your grand-dadster where Papyrus and I came from."

"I think Frisk meant right now," Asriel said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I know. I was just putting the finishing touches on your cards." Sans took the cards out of his pocket. "Here. Have fun."

At first glance, the cards appeared to be the ace of hearts and the king of clubs, causing the kids to start snickering. Once they got the cards, though, they saw that they were actual birthday cards that just resembled playing cards. Frisk got the ace of hearts because it resembled their soul, while Asriel got the king of clubs because he could pull off some great dance moves at parties.

"Thanks, Dad!" Frisk gave Sans a hug, and Asriel followed.

Sans returned the hugs. "No problem. And if anyone doesn't like the cards I gave you...well, they're just gonna have to deal with it."

The kids laughed again.

"Seriously, though, happy Frisk-and-Asriel-day."

"Thanks," the kids said. Usually, "Frisk-and-Asriel-day" wasn't a thing; the two celebrated their respective birthdays on separate days most of the time. However, since they were turning eighteen this time around, and since Mettaton had promised them a huge party, they were willing to make an exception for this year.

Once they were done with the hug, Frisk looked up, their hand curling into a fist. "I just know this is gonna be the best day ever...Az and I have been waiting for it since we were nine years old." They were determined to make it the best day of both of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doesn’t that just make you want to read the rest of it? Of course it does! So hurry over to author [NoSleepUntilVacation](http://archiveofourown.org/users/NoSleepUntilVacation/pseuds/NoSleepUntilVacation) right here on AO3 and read the story [Frisk and Asriel’s Special Day](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8142365/chapters/18662657). 
> 
> I never thought I’d see the day that people would write fanfiction of my fanfiction, but if my legacy for the Undertale fandom is to inspire more fluff I’d say my work here is done!


	10. Emberly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emberly has a lot to put up with when Sans and big brother Grillby hang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is me needing to write more Grillby and Emberly and experimenting with a new format. It takes place a little after Happy Family’s finale but way before the Epilogue.
> 
> **EDIT:** In this chapter I make us of images to show characters texting to eacht other. If these images don't show up for you or you are using screenreader technology, please read the [reupload of this chapter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8078287/chapters/18730507) where I have transcribed the texts. (The images are supposed to come after the line " _She was right:_ ".)

Emberly let the door slam behind her and put her book bag on the ground with a satisfying thump.

“Em?” her brother’s voice came from the living room. “Is that you?”

“Yes!” she called back.

She took off her coat and shawl. She really didn’t need to wear those, as it wasn’t like she was going to catch cold, but they were cute and Emberly liked being well-dressed.

“How nice of you to join us!” a familiar voice called, joining Grillby’s. “You sure will _brighten_ up our afternoon.”

Emberly rolled her eyes as she walked into the living room. “Hi, Sans,” she said.

“Hi, Emberly, good to see you again.” Sans grinned. “You always know how to _spark_ an interesting conversation.”

She laughed. Sans had already been a regular at her brother’s bar when she had still been a little flame. After they had come to the surface, the two had not seen each other as much as they used to, but lately he and Grillby must have been trying harder to meet up. Emberly was glad of it. Her brother was very friendly and he met a lot of people in his work, but he didn’t call people his _friends_ easily.

“How’s college?” Sans asked.

“Exhausting,” Emberly said, going for the liquor cabinet. “But really interesting.”

She told Sans and Grillby about her psychology classes while she poured herself a big glass of something very strong on the alcohol content. Alcohol didn’t affect fire elementals like it did biological creatures. Alcohol was flammable after all, so a nice shot of strong whiskey was refreshing to them instead of intoxicating.

“So you’re _psych_ ed to be there?” Sans winked when Emberly sat down with her drink.

Emberly sent a few sparks his way and chuckled: “Yes, yes, I am.” She took a swig and her green fire burned a little brighter for a second. “I guess I just wish they’d teach some monster psychology too. I mean there’s a lot of similarities, but there are some core differences between monsters and humans.”

Sans nodded in agreement.

“What about that possibility you talked about last week?” Grillby asked. “About a monster therapist as a guest lecturer?”

“They’re being really difficult about that,” Emberly said. “The professor is game, but the college is complaining about budgets and special treatment.”

She sighed and shook her head, making her flames swirl. “But I’m teaming up with several other students that want to see less dominant perspectives expressed in the curriculum. We should at least be able to write our papers about them!”

Grillby crackled with pride at his sister and Sans nodded approvingly. “I’m sure you can do it, Em,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “Plus our professor is awesome. He’s behind us all the way. He even asked us to come to the faculty meeting next week.”

“Sounds like you’re going to make those administrators _hot_ under the collar,” Sans grinned.

“This is a real issue, you know,” Emberly said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh I know,” Sans winked. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be getting all _fired_ up about it.”

“Grillby,” Emberly groaned. “Make him stop.”

“Sans,” Grillby said sternly. “Stop joking about Em’s efforts to improve her education. She is a driven young woman…with a particular talent for _fanning the flames_ of any important issue.”

Sans roared with triumphant laugher and Emberly groaned even louder. “Don’t you start!” she complained.

“Your brother is right,” Sans said. “You’re good at asking the _burning_ questions.”

They both broke down laughing like idiots and Emberly rolled her eyes. Before she could say anything, her phone rang and she answered it with a loud complaint:

“Muffet, Sans and Grillby are making fun of me. Do something about it.”

“Ahuhuhuhu,” Muffet laughed. “Is that Grillby in the background?”

“Yes,” Emberly said, cracking a smile. Grillby’s laughter sounded like the roaring of an open bonfire, loud and cosy.

“Sorry, dearie,” Muffet said with a giggle. “I didn’t call to rescue you. I just wanted to check if we’re still on for this Friday.”

“Of course!” Emberly said, walking out of the living room to get away from the snorting and choked laughter. “Can you at least give me a hint about what we’re doing?” she pleaded.  “Please?”

“No, no,” Muffet teased. “You didn’t tell last time and I won’t either! You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Emberly and Muffet did their best to get together every two weeks for some girl time. Muffet was a lot older than she looked and, to Emberly, Grillby becoming friends with Muffet had been like gaining a cool older sister. Lately they had tried to surprise each other with the activities for their get together. Last time Emberly had treated Muffet to a Great British Bake Off marathon.

“Okay,” Emberly grinned. “I’ll try to be patient.”

“You’ll have to be! Ahuhuhuhu!” Muffet laughed. “Good luck with your unmanageable men.”

“They’re being huge dorks,” Emberly informed her, holding up the phone so Muffet could hear the muffled laughter coming from the living room.

“Tell them I say hi,” Muffet chuckled. “Bye, dearie!”

“Bye, Muffet,” Emberly smiled and she hung up.

“Muffet says hi,” she announced, going back into the living room.

“Thanks,” Grillby said cheerfully. “What are you doing this Friday?”

 “I don’t know, she won’t tell,” Emberly said, her flames crackling curiously.

Sans was still grinning like he had more puns in him, but Grillby seemed to have calmed down, so Emberly decided to change the subject before Sans could think of a topical joke.

“It’s my turn to cook tonight,” she said, slanting her head. “Are you staying for dinner, Sans?”

“Grillbz did mention that was a possibility,” Sans said. “And I never pass up Fire cooking.”

“Then stay,” Emberly said cheerfully. “It’s always nice to have someone extra for dinner.”

“Yes, Sans,” Grillby said seriously. “You should stay. I think he could really use some _meat on your bones_.”

“I’m leaving,” Emberly said flatly, but she had to hide her grin as she paced out of the room while Sans slapped Grillby on the shoulder in congratulation.

Emberly went to the kitchen to see what was in stock for dinner. She wondered if she had time to make Korean fried chicken. Both Emberly and Grillby were very good at deep frying; they always got the temperature of the oil _just_ right.

Emberly’s phone beeped. Before she could dig it out of her skirt pocket, it had beeped and buzzed four times more.

“Jeez,” Emberly tutted. “Calm down, Sadie.” It was always Sadie when her phone went crazy like that.

She was right:

Emberly snorted. That sure looked like something Sadie would think was cool. She did like the design though.

Grinning, Emberly turned the volume up on her phone and clicked the [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBMOc24_aIw&ab_channel=WorthlessToaster). She smiled when the drums and guitar began. This was very Sadie. If anything, it was rather mellow for her usual taste. Emberly had to hand it to her girlfriend though; this was _very_ catchy.

“Sadie’s coming over!” Emberly called out towards the living room.

“Good!” Grillby called back.

“And I’m making Korean fried chicken,” she added, taking the big pot out of the kitchen cabinet.

“You’re too good for this world, Emberly,” Sans raised his voice above the roar of Grillby’s good humour. He adored Emberly’s Korean fried chicken.

“I know!” Emberly sang contently. She was looking forward to dinner already. With Sans and Sadie, there it would be a full table and Emberly loved cooking for an audience. This was going to be a cosy evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t planning on writing this at all. But I had no choice okay, the world was against me: [BookishAngel’s Genocide Number Ninety](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5672362/chapters/13067368) made me love Grillby even more than I already did, Silverstreamcat chatted with me about their Grillby/Muffet ficlet, [Undertexting on Tumblr](http://undertexting.tumblr.com/post/150931176086/%E3%83%84-ignore-the-weird-formatting-of-the) did my request about Fuku and Grillby texting each other, [NoSleepUntilVacation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8142365/chapters/18662657%20) published her wonderful sequel fic, and I rediscovered Danny Phantom. You see I had no choice. It was beyond my control.
> 
> I also felt like I mostly showed Grillby’s professional side in Happy Family, and I wanted to show that behind the scenes he’s a really nice brother and can be very silly when he wants to be ;)
> 
> Danny Phantom and Ember McLain belong to Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon.
> 
> [Texting website: http://iphonefaketext.com/ I added the emojis myself, took too much time, won’t do that again.]


	11. Emberly (plain text)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emberly has a lot to put up with when Sans and big brother Grillby hang out.
> 
> **EDIT:** This is a version of this chapter with the texts written out instead of in screen-shot form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is me needing to write more Grillby and Emberly and experimenting with a new format. It takes place a little after Happy Family’s finale but way before the Epilogue.
> 
> **EDIT:** Thanks NoSleepUntilVacation and AngelOfTheUnderground for pointing out to me that at least for them the images I added in the first uplaod of this chapter didn't show up. Here is a version with the texts transcribed while I try to fix the problem.

Emberly let the door slam behind her and put her book bag on the ground with a satisfying thump.

“Em?” her brother’s voice came from the living room. “Is that you?”

“Yes!” she called back.

She took off her coat and shawl. She really didn’t need to wear those, as it wasn’t like she was going to catch cold, but they were cute and Emberly liked being well-dressed.

“How nice of you to join us!” a familiar voice called, joining Grillby’s. “You sure will _brighten_ up our afternoon.”

Emberly rolled her eyes as she walked into the living room. “Hi, Sans,” she said.

“Hi, Emberly, good to see you again.” Sans grinned. “You always know how to _spark_ an interesting conversation.”

She laughed. Sans had already been a regular at her brother’s bar when she had still been a little flame. After they had come to the surface, the two had not seen each other as much as they used to, but lately he and Grillby must have been trying harder to meet up. Emberly was glad of it. Her brother was very friendly and he met a lot of people in his work, but he didn’t call people his _friends_ easily.

“How’s college?” Sans asked.

“Exhausting,” Emberly said, going for the liquor cabinet. “But really interesting.”

She told Sans and Grillby about her psychology classes while she poured herself a big glass of something very strong on the alcohol content. Alcohol didn’t affect fire elementals like it did biological creatures. Alcohol was flammable after all, so a nice shot of strong whiskey was refreshing to them instead of intoxicating.

“So you’re _psych_ ed to be there?” Sans winked when Emberly sat down with her drink.

Emberly sent a few sparks his way and chuckled: “Yes, yes, I am.” She took a swig and her green fire burned a little brighter for a second. “I guess I just wish they’d teach some monster psychology too. I mean there’s a lot of similarities, but there are some core differences between monsters and humans.”

Sans nodded in agreement.

“What about that possibility you talked about last week?” Grillby asked. “About a monster therapist as a guest lecturer?”

“They’re being really difficult about that,” Emberly said. “The professor is game, but the college is complaining about budgets and special treatment.”

She sighed and shook her head, making her flames swirl. “But I’m teaming up with several other students that want to see less dominant perspectives expressed in the curriculum. We should at least be able to write our papers about them!”

Grillby crackled with pride at his sister and Sans nodded approvingly. “I’m sure you can do it, Em,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “Plus our professor is awesome. He’s behind us all the way. He even asked us to come to the faculty meeting next week.”

“Sounds like you’re going to make those administrators _hot_ under the collar,” Sans grinned.

“This is a real issue, you know,” Emberly said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh I know,” Sans winked. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be getting all _fired_ up about it.”

“Grillby,” Emberly groaned. “Make him stop.”

“Sans,” Grillby said sternly. “Stop joking about Em’s efforts to improve her education. She is a driven young woman…with a particular talent for _fanning the flames_ of any important issue.”

Sans roared with triumphant laugher and Emberly groaned even louder. “Don’t you start!” she complained.

“Your brother is right,” Sans said. “You’re good at asking the _burning_ questions.”

They both broke down laughing like idiots and Emberly rolled her eyes. Before she could say anything, her phone rang and she answered it with a loud complaint:

“Muffet, Sans and Grillby are making fun of me. Do something about it.”

“Ahuhuhuhu,” Muffet laughed. “Is that Grillby in the background?”

“Yes,” Emberly said, cracking a smile. Grillby’s laughter sounded like the roaring of an open bonfire, loud and cosy.

“Sorry, dearie,” Muffet said with a giggle. “I didn’t call to rescue you. I just wanted to check if we’re still on for this Friday.”

“Of course!” Emberly said, walking out of the living room to get away from the snorting and choked laughter. “Can you at least give me a hint about what we’re doing?” she pleaded.  “Please?”

“No, no,” Muffet teased. “You didn’t tell last time and I won’t either! You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Emberly and Muffet did their best to get together every two weeks for some girl time. Muffet was a lot older than she looked and, to Emberly, Grillby becoming friends with Muffet had been like gaining a cool older sister. Lately they had tried to surprise each other with the activities for their get together. Last time Emberly had treated Muffet to a Great British Bake Off marathon.

“Okay,” Emberly grinned. “I’ll try to be patient.”

“You’ll have to be! Ahuhuhuhu!” Muffet laughed. “Good luck with your unmanageable men.”

“They’re being huge dorks,” Emberly informed her, holding up the phone so Muffet could hear the muffled laughter coming from the living room.

“Tell them I say hi,” Muffet chuckled. “Bye, dearie!”

“Bye, Muffet,” Emberly smiled and she hung up.

“Muffet says hi,” she announced, going back into the living room.

“Thanks,” Grillby said cheerfully. “What are you doing this Friday?”

 “I don’t know, she won’t tell,” Emberly said, her flames crackling curiously.

Sans was still grinning like he had more puns in him, but Grillby seemed to have calmed down, so Emberly decided to change the subject before Sans could think of a topical joke.

“It’s my turn to cook tonight,” she said, slanting her head. “Are you staying for dinner, Sans?”

“Grillbz did mention that was a possibility,” Sans said. “And I never pass up Fire cooking.”

“Then stay,” Emberly said cheerfully. “It’s always nice to have someone extra for dinner.”

“Yes, Sans,” Grillby said seriously. “You should stay. I think he could really use some _meat on your bones_.”

“I’m leaving,” Emberly said flatly, but she had to hide her grin as she paced out of the room while Sans slapped Grillby on the shoulder in congratulation.

Emberly went to the kitchen to see what was in stock for dinner. She wondered if she had time to make Korean fried chicken. Both Emberly and Grillby were very good at deep frying; they always got the temperature of the oil _just_ right.

Emberly’s phone beeped. Before she could dig it out of her skirt pocket, it had beeped and buzzed four times more.

“Jeez,” Emberly tutted. “Calm down, Sadie.” It was always Sadie when her phone went crazy like that.

She was right:

**Sadie <3: **Em

**Sadie <3:** Em

**Sadie <3: **Em

**Sadie <3: **Emmy

**Sadie <3:** Em

**Emmy:** Yes! What?

**Sadie <3: **Em!

**Sadie <3: **I told you I found this cool human cartoon right?

**Emmy:** Yeah? Something about human ghosts

**Sadie <3: **Yes! Danny Phantom it’s awesome

**Sadie <3:** But Em!

**Sadie <3: **There’s a badass punk characters with fire powers called Ember

**Emmy:** WHAT

**Sadie <3:  **Yeah! Check it out

Sadie sent a picture of a cartoon character with big, blue hair, an impressive punk rock outfit and a purple guitar with blue flames on it. Emberly snorted, that sure looked like something Sadie would think was cool. She did like the design though.

**Emmy:** Cool, but I don’t see any fire

**Sadie <3:**  She has fire powers!

Sadie sent two more pictures, in which the girl seemed to change her entire physical form into blue translucent fire. Her hair was actual flames now.

**Emmy:** So she’s ghost fire. That’s pretty cool.

**Sadie <3: **Right?!

**Sadie <3: **She has a song. Do you wanna hear it?

**Emmy:** Sure ^-^

**Emmy:** (But I’m not dressing up as her)

**Sadie <3:** I would NEVER

**Emmy:** (Or in any other punk outfit)

**Sadie <3:** Aw,  but you’d look so cute :3

**Emmy:** Nah. I’ll leave the edgy fashion to you. ;)

**Emmy:** I can’t do the make-up anyway

**Sadie <3: **You could wear a crop top though :D  :-*  :P

**Emmy:** -_-

**Sadie <3: **They have cutesy crop tops too you know…

**Emmy:** I’m telling Grillby you’re being a corrupting influence on me

**Sadie <3: **Duh that’s in my job description  ;-*

**Sadie <3:** But seriously listen to the song it’s awesome.

**Sadie <3: [Youtube/watch?v=wBMOc24_aIw&ab_channel=WorthlessToaster](Youtube/watch?v=wBMOc24_aIw&ab_channel=WorthlessToaster)**

**Sadie <3: **There’s a video that’s half clips from the show and some 3D animation thing but just watch it okay.

Grinning Emberly turned the volume up on her phone and clicked the link. She smiled when the drums and guitar began. This was very Sadie. If anything it was rather mellow for her usual taste. Emberly had to hand it to her girlfriend, this was _very_ catchy.

**Emmy:** Okay

**Emmy:** I like her hair ^-^

**Sadie <3:** ^_^

**Emmy:** I like the song too

**Sadie <3: **It’s great, right!

**Emmy:** Probably would be even better if you sang it to me ;-*

**Sadie <3:** Is that an invitation to come over?

**Emmy:** YES

**Sadie <3: **<3!

**Emmy:** Sans is here, I need you for moral support

**Sadie <3: **Haha

**Emmy:** Plus I’m cooking tonight :-*

**Sadie <3: **I’ll grab my stuff

**Sadie <3:** Be right there :-*

**Emmy:** Yay  <3

**Sadie <3:** xxx

“Sadie’s coming over!” Emberly called out towards the living room.

“Good!” Grillby called back.

“And I’m making Korean fried chicken,” she added, taking the big pot out of the kitchen cabinet.

“You’re too good for this world, Emberly,” Sans raised his voice above the roar of Grillby’s good humour. He adored Emberly’s Korean fried chicken.

“I know!” Emberly sang contently. She was looking forward to dinner already. With Sans and Sadie, there it would be a full table and Emberly loved cooking for an audience. This was going to be a cosy evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t planning on writing this at all. But I had no choice okay, the world was against me: [BookishAngel’s Genocide Number Ninety](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5672362/chapters/13067368) made me love Grillby even more than I already did, Silverstreamcat chatted with me about their Grillby/Muffet ficlet, [Undertexting on Tumblr](http://undertexting.tumblr.com/post/150931176086/%E3%83%84-ignore-the-weird-formatting-of-the) did my request about Fuku and Grillby texting each other, [NoSleepUntilVacation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8142365/chapters/18662657%20) published her wonderful sequel fic, and I rediscovered Danny Phantom. You see I had no choice. It was beyond my control.
> 
> I also felt like I mostly showed Grillby’s professional side in Happy Family, and I wanted to show that behind the scenes he’s a really nice brother and can be very silly when he wants to be ;)
> 
> EDIT: If you couldn't see the images of the texts in the first uplaod, perhaps you _can_ view them on [Tumblr](http://undertalehappyfamily.tumblr.com/post/151154683073/undertexting-inspired-me-to-give-this-texting).
> 
> Danny Phantom and Ember McLain belong to Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon.


	12. Prequel: The best thing that never should have happened

I feel like I'm clogging this collection up with announcements, but I have written a one shot prequel explaining where Sans and Papyrus came from and how they ended up being adopted by Gaster!

 

I'm really pleased with it, but it's definitely not fluff and it's rather long (for a one shot) so it didn't seem quite right to upload it here.

 

Some headcanons and ponderings of mine that prompted me to write this origin story:

 .

In the Happy Family universe Gaster and River are related. Both are shadow monsters with very specific shadow magic at their disposal. They went very different ways though. Gaster became a scientist and engineer, River went a more spiritual and philosophical route. This posed no problems, until Gaster started to actively experiment with schadow magic, trying to use it for his inventions. River strongly disagreed with this and their arguments only got worse. Gaster refused to stop his experiments however and the fact that he didn't changed his life forever.

 .

When everyone gets to the surface at the end of the true pacifist run Papyrus doesn't know what the sun is, but Sans does. Why? Is Papyrus faking? Has Sans been to the surface before? Has Sans read about the sun and just not told Papyrus up til now? 

 .

In some playthroughs Frisk finds a poorly drawn picture in Sans' lab with three people on it and the words "Don't forget". Who are they? Surely Sans and Papyrus can't be on the picture, because Frisk would recognise them. Did Sans make this drawing and if so when?

 .

And then that all important line Sans says when he explains his demotivation:

 _"i gave up trying to go back a long time ago. and getting to thesurface doesn't really appeal anymore, either."_  

Go back where? That's the question I wanted to answer when I started writing the prequel.

 .

 

If that sounds interesting to you, please, check out [The best thing that never should have happened](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8322685) and tell me what you think!


	13. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emberly babysits Frisk, Asriel, and Chara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after the finale, but before the epilogue, so Emberly is about 19, Frisk and Asriel are 10 going on 11 and Chara is 12 going on 13.

“But we don’t _need_ a babysitter,” Chara protested. “ _I_ can babysit!”

“Yes,” Asriel and Frisk agreed loudly. Not particularly because they shared Chara’s opinion that she was so much older than they were, but mainly because that’s what big sisters were for: to get out of getting stuck with proper adult supervision.

“Your opinion has been noted,” Toriel smiled. “And shall be reviewed at the next meeting of the parental council.”

The children sighed. That meant ‘no’.

“Until further notice, however,” Toriel continued with a chuckle. “I have asked Emberly to come.”

That cheered Frisk up. They really liked Emberly. Asriel didn’t mind her so much any more either, but Chara was still sulking a little. She got over it pretty quickly though, and by the time Emberly arrived, all three children were happily employed playing DDR.

In this case, it was Asriel cheering on Frisk and Chara, who were both really good at it.

“Hello, Emberly,” Toriel said pleasantly as she let her in. “Sans and Papyrus will be back at eleven and Sans can bring you home if you like.”

“Sounds good to me,” Emberly said cheerfully.

“I myself will be home by eleven thirty at the latest,” Toriel assured her. “So if something holds them up at the convention, I will bring you home myself.”

“Any time before twelve is fine,” Emberly said.

They walked into the living room together and Emberly greeted the children.

“Hi, guys!” she grinned.

“Hi, Emberly!” Frisk cried and they ran up to her for a hug. Having just lost to Chara, they were very willing to abandon DDR for a while.

Asriel came over for a warm pat on the head and Chara grinned good-naturedly when Emberly smiled at her.

Toriel packed her handbag and went through the necessary information with Emberly.

“Well, that was everything, I think,” she concluded. She turned around on her way to the hallway and said: “Where are my hugs?”

Her three children did their best to tackle her by jumping at her all three at once. All their combined efforts weren’t even enough to make Toriel lose her balance, but it did make for a very good hug.

“Have a nice evening, my darlings,” Toriel said, giving them all a kiss on their forehead. “Be good and remember: no magic unless it is an emergency.”

“Yes, Mom,” they all chimed.

Ever since Chara had come back, Toriel had started to take the fact that she now undeniably had three children with magical talents a little more seriously. She was trying to teach all her kids as best she could and she encouraged them to experiment, but only at home and only when she, Asgore, Sans, or Papyrus were nearby.

“Have fun, Mom,” Asriel said happily as Toriel put on her coat.

“Yes, and say hi to Susan and Isabelle for me!” Frisk chimed in.

Toriel was going out for drinks with the bunny sisters that used to run Snowdin’s shop and inn. They were going to have a nice kid-free evening.

“Thank you, darlings,” Toriel said. “I’m sure you’ll have a fun evening too. Bye!”

When the door closed behind Toriel, Emberly shot the children her most radiant smile. “You guys want to play a game?” she asked. “I brought Mysterium, Black Stories, and Dixit.”

“Mysterium!” Frisk cried.

“Black Stories!” Chara insisted.

“Dixit!” Asriel cheered.

Emberly laughed and looked at the clock. “We should have time for all,” she said. “Nothing better than an evening of table-top games!”

They played Black Stories first, because it was the scariest and Emberly didn’t think they should be playing it just before bed. She also suggested that she should be the one to pick the cards and read the clues. The kids were fine with that, they liked guessing the story better than being the game master anyway.

Chara was very fond of this game, but Frisk felt sorry for some of the people in the stories and Asriel got bored of it pretty quickly. So Emberly awarded the winning point to Chara, who was very good at guessing unfortunate events, and suggested they make some drinks for starting a round of Mysterium.

“Yes!” Frisk said. “You guys set up and I will make us lemonade!”

“Not for me, thanks,” Emberly said.

“Ok!” Frisk sang and they ran to the kitchen.

Emberly gave Chara and Asriel the box to unpack and took a thermos out of her bag. When Frisk came back with three glasses, Emberly poured herself a drink in the cap of the thermos.

“Ew,” Chara laughed, wrinkling her nose. “What is that?”

“Gasoline,” Emberly chuckled.

“You drink _gasoline_?” Asriel said incredulously.

“Is it because you’re fire?” Frisk asked.

“Yup!” Emberly said cheerfully. “Flammable liquids are like a refreshing drink to us fire elementals. Water or lemonade would make me feel ill.”

The kids had set up the game by now so Emberly asked: “Who wants to be the ghost?”

“Me!” Frisk and Chara cried.

“You can go first,” Chara said generously. “’Cause I won last time.”

“Yay!” Frisk grinned and they sat down behind the panel that hid the ghost’s actions from the other players.

Chara, Asriel, and Emberly chose their characters and Frisk started to give ghostly clues that they tried to interpret in order to solve the heinous murder that had taken place at Warwick Manor.

They played Mysterium three times, so all the kids could be the ghost once. During the last round, Emberly got a text. She smiled, looking at her phone.

“Sadie wants to know what I’m up to,” she said. “Want to pose for a picture?”

“Yeah!” they grinned and Frisk, Asriel, and Chara all pulled their most ridiculous faces while Emberly took a picture of them and the game table. She sent it to Sadie with a smile and showed it to the children. They nodded approvingly.

“Come on!” Asriel grinned. “Solve my murder so we can play Dixit!”

 

They played until it was time to get ready for bed. After they had brushed their teeth and got into their pyjamas, they all gathered in Frisk and Asriel’s room.

Frisk and Asriel still shared a room, although there was definitely talk of converting the attic into a bedroom for one of them. Gaster’s old room had been redecorated and made into Chara’s bedroom. She liked having her own room, but all three of them had made a habit of piling into Asriel’s bed for a bedtime story every night. Because while Chara might consider herself old enough to not need a babysitter, she was definitely not too old for bedtime stories.

“And they all lived lives as happy as they were long,” Emberly finished the story.

“That was nice,” Asriel yawned.

“Hm-hm,” Frisk hummed.

They and Chara got out of Asriel’s bed and Frisk got into their own bed while Chara sauntered to the door.

“All snug?” Emberly asked.

“Yes,” Asriel sighed contently and Frisk nodded.

“Good night then,” Emberly smiled. “Sweet dreams.”

She walked outside, following Chara to her room. Chara took a running leap and jumped onto her bed, burrowing under her duvet.

“You also nice and cosy?” Emberly smiled.

“Yup,” Chara said.

“Good,” Emberly hummed. “Sleep tight.”

“G’night,” Chara sighed, pulling the duvet up to her chin.

Emberly turned off the light and gently closed the door behind her. She made her way downstairs and poured herself another cup of gasoline. In the Underground she had drunk liquors with high alcohol content, that was nice and flammable and always at hand since her brother had a bar. But Emberly had learned very quickly that humans didn’t like the idea of a teenager walking round with a bottle of vodka. Strangely enough it was easier to explain wanting to drink gasoline than wanting to drink alcohol, so Emberly had adapted. She had made an evening out of it, inviting other fire elementals to the house she shared with her brother and tasting all the different flammable liquids the surface had to offer. Gasoline was Emberly’s favourite. Grillby preferred lighter fluid.

Embelry took her time putting her games back in her bag. Then she brought the lemonade glasses to the kitchen and  put them in the dishwasher, sent a silly selfie to Sadie, and made herself a comfortable spot on the couch to read her book. When she had done all this, she went back upstairs to check on the kids.

Frisk and Asriel’s room was dark and quiet, but she could see light coming underneath the door to Chara’s room.

Emberly gently opened the door and poked her head around the corner. Chara was sitting up in bed with the night light on.

“Can’t sleep?” Emberly whispered.

Chara shook her head.

“Anything I can do?” Emberly offered.

Chara looked conflicted. She so wanted to be the big sister of the family…

“Could you sing a lullaby for me?” she asked.

“Of course,” Emberly smiled. She went to sit on the edge of Chara’s bed. “Shall I sing the song my mom and dad used to sing to me?”

Chara nodded. It didn’t really matter to her what was being sung. It was the sound that mattered.

Emberly reached out and turned off the night light. Now her own gentle, green glow was the only thing lighting the room.

Chara smiled. Asriel’s fire magic was often green too. Back in the Underground, he used to conjure up small flames whenever Chara was afraid of the dark. Green was a good colour for light to have as far as Chara was concerned. She snuggled deeper into her duvet while Emberly started to hum a melody. Her humming sounded like the warm crackling of kindling. When she began to sing, Chara had to listen closely to actually distinguish the words:

 _“Born in a bonfire, born in a hearth,_  
_Born from the heat that still glows in the earth,_  
_Born in a stove or born in a pyre,_  
_All little sparks are born from the fire…”_

Chara felt herself being warmed through and through. Just for a moment, she imagined that she was a spark herself, so that she’d never have to be afraid of the dark ever again.

Emberly let her light dim to a sleepy glow and kept on signing, while Chara’s eyes slowly drifted shut.

 _“Born burning orange or bright green or blue,_  
_Born from the kindling we kindled for you,_  
_May you burn gentle, may you burn bright,_  
_All little sparks have their very own light…”_

Only when Chara’s breathing had become deep and even did Emberly quietly get to her feet and slip out of the room. She closed the door and went downstairs, still smiling. It was strange, but she hadn’t sung or heard that song in years. Her mom and dad had sung it for her often when she was little and Grillby had sung it many times later on when she really wasn’t a little spark anymore.

With a content little sigh, Emberly settled into her spot on the couch and opened her book. Sir Pouncival came to lie on her lap, he knew a nice warm spot to sleep when he saw one. There wasn’t a sound from the upstairs bedroom the whole evening and Emberly was fully engrossed in her book when Sans and Papyrus arrived home.

“Hey, Em,” Sans grinned when she looked up. “Everything go alright?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Emberly smiled, getting to her feet. “Did you have a good time?”

“Yes!” Papyrus said in a loud whisper. “We went to see a movie and had dinner at your brother’s restaurant.”

“Speaking of Grillbz,” Sans said. “I promised him I’d bring you home.”

“Does that mean a shortcut?” Emberly asked eagerly. She loved teleporting. It made her fire fizz right to her core. When she was younger, Sans had often teleported her around just to amuse her and get her out of Grillby’s flames for a while.

“It’s faster than the car,” Sans chuckled. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Sans, we still have to pay her!” Papyrus reminded him and he ran to the kitchen where Toriel kept some of the household money in cash.

Emberly took her pay, gave Papyrus a hug, hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder, and took Sans’ hand.

“Ready?” he grinned.

“Ready!” she said.

“Alright, hold on,” he said and the bright blue flash from his eye pulled Emberly into the endless darkness between here and there.

She was only there for a second, but for that second she was the brightest light in existence. She _loved_ that feeling.

“There we are!” Sans said, planting both their feet firmly on the ground. “One babysitter delivered safely to her door.”

“Thanks, Sans,” Emberly smiled. “Tell Toriel good night.”

“Will do,” Sans nodded. “And thank you for taking care of the kids.”

“My pleasure,” Emberly glowed, taking out her keys and walking up to the door. “Good night!”

“G’night, and the same to your brother,” Sans grinned. “Wouldn’t want him to _flame_ me for being uncivil.”

Emberly laughed, Sans winked, and with that he blinked into nothing. Emberly smiled and went inside, thinking fondly of her bed and of old lullabies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m still very much in a fire elemental mood and I wanted to write some fluff with all three of the kids. The lullaby Emberly sings was inspired by my friend BookishAngel’s idea that fire elementals are born by their parents kindling a fire in a pyre, fireplace, or something like it and her wonderful phrase: “Fuku was born in a bonfire.”
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	14. Happy Alphyne Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaoru and Hikaru are a handful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one, but you definitely have AngelOfTheUnderground to thank for this one ;)

Ever since their professional lives became more hectic, Alphys and Undyne had had a date night once a week. That usually meant they just hung out at home and did something fun together, but ever since they had the kids, that had changed. When the twins were still freshly hatched, date night had been neglected for a while. But as soon as Alphys and Undyne had gotten over the first overwhelming change of becoming parents, they had done their best to get date night back into their routine. However it was difficult to have time for each other with two little boys rolling around the house, so date night nowadays usually meant that they went out and someone came to babysit the twins.

When it came to babysitters for the boys they had to be careful though, especially when they got a little older. By the time Kaoru and Hikaru were four years old, it had become evident that even though it was mostly Hikaru that had inherited Undyne’s temper, they had _both_ inherited her magic. Materialising objects out of nowhere was a favourite game of theirs and, combined with their athletic aspirations, this led to a lot of accidents. This was exactly the reason that Undyne and Alphys liked to have Frisk or Asriel as babysitters. Not just because the twins adored them, but also because they had the magical talents to take care of two highly volatile and magical kids.

Frisk’s determined magic had developed mostly in the direction of influencing the world around them. Things tended to go wrong less often when they were around and when they really applied their magic, reality was certainly willing to bend itself a little to accommodate their wishes.

Asriel, who had focussed on fire magic in his youth, had begun to earnestly develop his healing abilities since his early teens and Toriel was confident his skill would exceed hers one day. Very useful talent to have, magical healing, when the kids you’re taking care of are fond of climbing on and falling off furniture.

In short, if it was possible, date night at Alphys and Undyne’s house meant that Frisk or Asriel came over to take care of the kids. Even better: sometimes they would come together.

That’s the way it was the night that the local movie theatre was hosting an anime marathon. _Of course_ Alphys and Undyne were going to go there and, since they were probably going to be back far after midnight, they were very glad Frisk and Asriel had agreed to come stay the night.

“It’ll be like a slumber party!” Kaoru cheered.

“We’re gonna do our _own_ marathon,” Hikaru informed his mothers with a wide grin.

“And we want to hear all about it tomorrow,” Undyne chuckled, ruffling both boys’ short, spiky hair.

“Are you not going to wear your anime clothes, Mama?” Kaoru asked Alphys.

Alphys flushed a little and whispered: “I’ve got some accessories hidden in my bag, just in case other people decided to dress up.”

The bell rang and the boys nearly tripped over their tails in their eagerness to get to the door. Alphys and Undyne listened for the sound of the door opening, the cheerful “Hey there!” and “Howdy!” from Frisk and Asriel, followed by the unmistakable “Oof!” as they were each hugged tight round the waist by a twin.

With contented smiles, they went to greet them as well. It was a good life this and they felt horribly, horribly spoiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it’s time to put this collection of extras on ‘complete’ now. My Undertale ideas have quite run out and I’m happy with it all.  
> For those of you still here: thank you so much for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos; you’ve made this a lovely experience.

**Author's Note:**

> When I’m not writing Undertale fluff I write fairy tales! I especially like writing old fashioned stories but with modern themes. If that sounds fun to you, you can find them at my [FictionPress](https://www.fictionpress.com/u/1008256/Sunfreckle).


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